Bv 206

The Bv 206, short for Bandvagn 206 and meaning tracked vehicle 206 in Swedish, is a tracked, articulated, all-terrain carrier made of two linked units with all four tracks powered. It was developed in the 1970s by the Swedish company Hagglund and Soner for the Swedish Army, following its predecessor the Volvo Bv 202, and is built to move troops and equipment through the snow and bog lands of northern Sweden. Trial vehicles were delivered between 1976 and 1978 and the first production examples reached the Swedish Defence Administration in 1980. The front unit seats six and the rear unit eleven, it is fully amphibious, and more than 11,000 have been built for over 37 countries. Hagglund and Soner became Alvis Hagglunds in 1997, and in 2004 the business passed to BAE Systems as BAE Systems Hagglunds. Variants include ambulance, fire, command, anti-tank and the armoured Bv 206S, and the United States Army uses it as the Small Unit Support Vehicle.