Infantry fighting vehicle is a light armored tracked vehicle with a gun capable of attacking soft targets. The typical role of an IFV is to house a squad of soldiers, often armed with both hand guns and machine guns, and usually anti tank weapons. The soldiers will dismount when the IFV makes contact with the enemy. The IFV crew usually consisting of a driver, gunner and the commander stays in the vehicle, firing their main gun at the enemy. IFV are a close friend to main battle tanks, filling out each others role.

There are two IFV in Sweden. The Swedish produced CV9040, and the Russian made BMP1. The BMP1 are bought used from the former DDR.

   CV9040   

Combat Vehicle 9040 will be commissioned to most types of Army Brigade. Basic training has been carried out on this vehicle since 1994. Up to now, basic training has been carried out at the Norrbotten Regiment and Norrbotten Brigade (MekB 19), the Life Guards Brigade (IB 1), the Army Brigade Centre (Inf/KavC - BrigC), and the Lappland Brigade (NB 20). Technicians' training has been initiated at the Army Technical Centre, ATC.

Combat Vehicle 9040 is the basic vehicle for a family of vehicles currently consisting of:

• Combat Vehicle 9040 (basic vehicle)
• Armored Comman/Control Tracked Vehicle 90
• Armored Fire-control Tracked Vehicle 90
• Tracked Recovery Vehicle 90
• Air Defence Tracked Vehicle 90

The main task of Combat Vehicle 9040 is to safely transport infantrymen and to be able to engage other combat vehilces and ground targets. The vehicle has a certain degree of air defence capacity, chiefly against helicopters. In order to be able to fulfil its tasks, the vehicle has been equipped with a number of different systems. These systems are to facilitate good accessibility and rapid deployment at a speed of 70 kph, and to have a high degree of firepower, plus offer good protection against fragmentation and NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) weapons.

The vehicle has the following special equipment:

• a 40 mm automatic gun
• a co-axial 7,62 mm machine gun
• sights with an integrated laser an a IRV-system
• an electric horisontal and vertical aiming system with a manual back-up system
• a computer for calculating aim-off and for ranging the gun.

The vehicle is equipped with positioning aids, GPS and a calculator. The transportation compartment holds 7 infantrymen.

   BMP-1   

Panserbandvagn 501 (BMP-1) is included in the Infantry Brigades. It is a Russian construction from the 1960's.

The Vehicle has a crew of three: commander, driver and gunner. The transportation compartment holds six combat-equipped infantrymen, each having a firing-port for small-arms and an observation prism.

The vehicle is armed with a 73 mm low-pressure gun and a 7.62 mm machine gun, Type 95. The gun can fire HEAT-T (tracer) rounds and normal range for firing is up to 800 m, but this can be extended to 1,200 m. The vehicle has a daytime-vision sight and a night-vision sight in the form of an image-intensifier.

PBV501 has an collective NBC protection capability. Combat weight is 13 tonnes. Maximum speed is 70 kph. On-road range is 500 km. It has good fordability.