The Marder 1 is a modern German infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). The first prototypes of the vehicle were built in 1961, and serial production continued in 1970-1975, ending with the production of 2,136 units. Marder 1 is powered by an engine MTU MB EA-500,
with a power of 600 hp. The vehicle is armed with a single 20mm Rheinmetall Mk.20 Rh 202 autocannon, 2 7.62mm MG3 machine guns and 1 Milan anti-tank missile launcher.
The Marder 1 was created as a new IFV for the Bundeswehr, intended to replace the Schutzenpanzer Lang HS.30 armored vehicles, which were obsolete in the 1960s and 1970s. Development work already began in 1960, but the Marder 1 only entered series production ten years later. As a result, however, the resulting structure was very refined, with low failure rate, high mobility and highly susceptible to modernization. During the operation, several development versions of the Marder 1 vehicle were created. The first of them was designated as Marder 1A1, which had much better night combat capabilities than the basic version. Soon after, the Marder 1A2 was created, which had better weapon stabilization devices - especially the Rh 202 cannons. At the end of the 1980s, the Marder 1A3 was introduced into service, with significantly reinforced armor - especially the front part of the hull, which resulted in an increase in weight from 28 to 35 tone. The last two developments are the Marder 1A4 and the Marder 1A5 - the first has better communication equipment and the second has an improved mine cover. The TAM tank and the Roland self-propelled anti-aircraft system were built on the Marder 1 chassis. The Marder 1 infantry fighting vehicle was exported to Chile and Indonesia.