December 28, 2010:
Many countries are sending their latest armored vehicle designs to Afghanistan, to see how they operate in combat. One of these is the Polish Rosomak ("Wolverine"), which has been in Afghanistan for two years. A hundred are there, and more are on the way. This is an 8x8 wheeled vehicle weighing 16-26 tons, depending on equipment added. In particular, the vehicle is built to accept several degrees of armor enhancements.
The basic infantry version has a 30mm Bushmaster II autocannon in a turret, along with a 7.62mm machine-gun. This version has a crew of three and carries eight passengers.
Several new surveillance models are being sent to Afghanistan. These are equipped with an Israeli surveillance package. This includes a radar, thermal sensor, motion sensor and a small UAV. One of these vehicles can move to some high ground and detect activity over a wide area (out to ten kilometers, night or day and in any weather.)