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The Prowler is a Light Strike Vehicle used by both NATO forces and CTRG operatives in ArmA 3. It was added with the release of the Apex DLC.

Overview[]

  • Roles:
    • Troop transport
    • Reconnaissance
    • Fire support
« The Prowler is a light strike vehicle (LSV) which means it is agile and lightly armored. It uses speed, maneuverability and off-road mobility to avoid major threats. Another benefit is that the Prowler is light enough to be transported by medium helicopters such as UH-80 Ghost Hawk. This is in contrast to the heavy MRAP vehicles which are harder to transport to the battlefield. The Prowler can be configured in several different ways. Armed variants are equipped with a .338 SPMG medium machine gun, mounted on the front passenger side, while the turret can sport a .50 cal heavy machine gun or Titan missile launcher. With this arsenal, the Prowler is ideal for quick hit and run missions. The unarmed variant is stripped of all guns, but the back part of the vehicle is open and there are reserve seats for two additional soldiers.
Field Manual
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Design[]

Premium content logo
This is a premium asset that requires ownership of the Apex expansion pack.

Primarily designed for use by special operations units, the Prowler is a lightweight, air transportable, highly mobile platform that can be configured for a variety of missions.

Features
It is available in three variants: a baseline unarmed version that has no weapons mounted on it, and two separately armed versions that either have a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun or an anti-tank missile launcher fitted onto the turret ring.

Both armed versions have a forward-facing .338 medium machine gun fitted to front of the commander's seat. Prowlers can be airlifted by V-44X vehicle transports, as well via slingloading with CH-67 and UH-80 helicopters.

Arma3-prowler-04

Provided that they remain on the move, a small squad of AT Prowlers can easily outflank a tank platoon.

Notable Traits
Prowlers armed with Titan ATGMs are very effective at serving as hit-and-run anti-tank vehicles. Thanks to the Titan's ability to toggle an alternate top-attack flight profile, an ATGM Prowler need only lock-on and flee before the enemy crew detects the Prowler. CSAT Qilins on the other hand, must remain stationary or drive at slow speeds so that their gunners can manually guide their launcher's missile towards their target.

Drawbacks
The armed Prowler has to sacrifice multiple passenger seats in exchange for possessing heavier firepower. In addition, the only true advantages that Mk30 HMG-armed Prowlers have over the Qilin's 6.5 mm minigun is that it retains better accuracy, range, and magnified thermal optics. This combination of traits alongside the HMG's integral optics effectively turns the Prowler into a mobile Mk30 HMG turret.

However, the Mk30's underwhelming rate of fire and lack of dispersion is less useful when the Prowler is on the move. Attempting to lay down suppressive fire in this manner is next to impossible, as the Mk30's high accuracy works against the gunner and reduces their chances of landing a successful hit. Aiming through magnified optics while the Prowler is mobile is also impractical since the gunner loses much of their peripheral vision and will not be able to maintain a steady aim while driving off-road since the turret isn't stabilised.

Crew Capacity
Passenger capacity will vary depending on whether the variant is armed or not.

At the bare minimum, all models will support at least a driver, a passenger in the front-right seat who doubles as the vehicle's "commander" on armed variants, along with a third in the turret ring "seat" who either controls the mounted weaponry or can fire their own weapon while standing up.

Variants[]

Arma3-render-prowlersand
Baseline variant.

It has enough seats to transport up to six passengers, one of whom sits in the (weaponless) turret ring. All passengers are capable of firing out of the vehicle, but the vehicle itself is otherwise completely unarmed.

Arma3-render-prowlerlightdazzle
Virtually identical in performance and capability to the baseline vehicle. The sole difference is that this variant has both its passenger doors and rear cages removed.

Arma3-render-prowlerhmgdazzle
Armed variant of the Prowler.

It can only transport up to two passengers (not including the gunner and commander) and instead has a Mk30 heavy machine gun mounted externally onto the turret ring located in the centre of the vehicle. The Mk30 comes pre-loaded with a single 100-round belt box of .50 cal ammunition, and has additional 3 belt boxes stored in reserve for a combined total of 300 rounds.

Arma3-render-prowleratsand
Alternate armed variant configured as an anti-tank weapons carrier.

It is identical to the HMG variant but has the turret ring fitted with a Titan MPRL Compact missile launcher instead. The Titan is pre-loaded with a single missile by default and has a further 5 missiles to reload from (for a total of six). It transports the same number of passengers as the HMG variant.


(*) The commander (in the front right seat) on both variants can utilise the SPMG medium machine gun. It is pre-loaded with a 130-round belt bag by default and has a further 2 belt bags in reserve for a combined pool of 390 rounds.

Camouflage[]

  • Black: Pattern-less matte black paint scheme. Has very limited uses outside of operations set during the night or in areas with very low visibility.
  • Olive: Standard pattern-less olive drab green paint scheme used by all NATO ground vehicles and certain aircraft. This can be universally employed in all types of terrain, but is more suited to arid and forested environments.
  • Sand: Pattern-less dull sand paint scheme. Primarily designed for use in arid and desert environments.
  • Dazzle: Two-tone dazzle pattern camouflage scheme used by CTRG forces. Intended for use in arid terrain but can also be employed in tropic environments as well.

Protection[]

All variants of the Prowler have base armour values of 80. They cannot be fitted with either Explosive Reactive Armour blocks/panels nor slat cages.

The following highlighted positions serve as weak points on Prowlers:

Arma3-prowler-hitpoints

LEGEND
Green = Body
Orange = Engine
Violet = Fuel tank

Hit zones are identical across all models regardless of configuration.


Body[]

The vehicle's body is only able to incur up to 40 points of damage. It suffers from a 150% damage penalty to high-explosive (HE) type weapons.

A catastrophic loss will not occur unless the Prowler is in critical status.

Hull[]

The Prowler's hull can survive 120 points of damage. It takes 50% less damage from HE-type weapons.

No amount of damage against the hull is transferred onto the Prowler's main "health" pool.

Engine[]

The engine can only incur 64 points of damage before failing. It will not cause a catastrophic kill by itself unless the Prowler is in critical status.

50% of incoming damage on the engine is always transferred onto the Prowler's "health" pool. It has 50% resistance against HE-type munitions.

If damaged: Reduces power output, acceleration is decreased and it may become impossible to climb uphill.
If destroyed: Instantly immobilises the Prowler.

Fuel tank[]

The fuel tank can only survive 20 points of damage before rupturing.

50% of incoming damage onto the fuel tank is always transferred to the Prowler's "health" pool. It takes 150% damage from HE-type weapons. A destroyed fuel tank will not cause a catastrophic kill unless the Prowler is critically damaged.

If damaged: Gradually leak up to 50% of fuel over time.
If destroyed: Depletes entire fuel capacity over the course of a few seconds.

Wheels[]

All four wheels are able to resist 150 points of damage.

They are susceptible to small arms fire and take 400% damage from explosive-type damage, meaning any HE-type munitions or landmines can instantly pop them. No amount of damage inflicted is transferred onto the Prowler's main "health" pool.

Destroying all the wheels will be needed to immobilise the entire vehicle. Depending on which and how many are remaining, it is entirely possible for the Prowler to continue driving even with three out of four tyres missing (though making simple manoeuvres will be almost impossible).

Armament[]

The Prowler's gunner always controls the weapon systems mounted above the turret ring (Mk30 .50/Titan MPRL Compact) while the co-driver/commander handles the SPMG .338 medium machine gun. In the case of the unarmed variants, passengers on the turret ring and front right co-driver's seat can fire out the vehicle with their own weapons:

Mk30 .50[]

Arma3-vehicleweapons-prowler-mk3050

NOTE: Only available on the Prowler (HMG) variant.

Base damage value Aerodynamic friction Initial velocity (m/s) Penetration depth (mm)
30 -0.00086 910 35.49

General-purpose .50 cal heavy machine gun.

It can attain a fire rate of 500 rounds per minute and has a muzzle velocity of 910 m/s. Accuracy-wise, it has a fixed dispersion of 0.00096 rad. It takes at least 10 seconds to reload a fresh belt box.

The turret can be fully swivelled in all directions horizontally but is vertically limited to a maximum depression of 10 degrees and an elevation of 40 degrees. For optics, the sight features an integrated laser rangefinder and has variable zoom capability but can only toggle between a day or night vision mode.

The Mk30's Fire Control System supports automatic zeroing against stationary targets and requires 1 second to finish adjustments. The gunner can also opt to manually zero, though it is limited to 100 m increments/decrements up to 400 m before jumping to 600 m, 800 m, 1000 m, and 1200 m. The last zeroing adjustment always skips straight to 1500 m.

Titan MPRL Compact[]

Arma3-vehicleweapons-prowler-titanmprlcompact

NOTE: Only available on the Prowler (AT) variant.

Warhead Damage type Base damage value Penetration depth (mm)
Primary High-Explosive 95 N/A
Secondary High-Explosive Anti-Tank 585 900

Anti-tank guided missile launcher. Fires missiles fitted with high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads. Can utilise either infrared-homing guidance or SACLOS.

The launcher can switch between either a direct fire or top-attack flight profile. It takes 3 seconds to lock onto a target and 8 seconds to reload the launcher with a fresh missile.

There is no limit to rotation horizontally, but it is vertically restricted to a maximum depression of 20 degrees and an elevation of 30 degrees. The Command Launch Unit (CLU) features a laser rangefinder and has two magnification modes. It can toggle either a day or black-/white-hot thermal vision mode. Smoke-based countermeasures have a 50% chance to temporarily disrupt the launcher's lock-on (if locking via IR-homing).

The missile seekers are infrared-guided but can only lock onto targets moving at speeds of 126 km/h or less. It supports SACLOS guidance, but only up to a maximum distance of 2,000 metres. They have an initial launch velocity of 36 m/s and can reach speeds of up to 180 m/s in mid-flight. Smoke countermeasures have a 60% chance to confuse the missile's seeker (when locking via autonomous guidance only).

The warheads are HEAT-based and combine both an explosive charge and a kinetic penetrator submunition. The primary explosive charge has a blast radius of 3.3 metres. The secondary kinetic submunition is launched with a velocity of 1,000 m/s and can penetrate up to 900 millimetres of armour plating.


Flight Profiles[]

The Prowler's Titan missiles can utilise two types of flight profiles:

Direct-attack[]

Missile uses a linear flight trajectory. This is the default flight mode.

Top attack[]

Once launched, the missile will transition between two phases:

  • Initial: Missile will continue to climb diagonally in a 30 degree angle until it passes a height of approximately 200 metres.
  • Seeking: Terminal phase of flight. Missile begins to descend onto the target once it hits an altitude of 240 metres ATL.

The missile has a minimum targeting range of 240 metres in this mode. If the target is not beyond this distance, it will default to direct-attack mode instead.

Lastly, if the missile loses track of the target during the seeking phase it can be defaulted back to manual guidance (SACLOS). Assuming that the seeker was not confused by defensive countermeasures, the missile will act as if it was being guided by SACLOS in the event this occurs.


SPMG .338[]

Arma3-vehicleweapons-prowler-spmg338

NOTE: Only available on the Prowler (HMG) and Prowler (AT) variants.

Base damage value Aerodynamic friction Initial velocity (m/s) Penetration depth (mm)
14 -0.00061 807 21.79

.338 medium machine gun. Fitted to the co-driver's (commander) seat.

The SPMG is forward-facing only and cannot be fully rotated in all directions (vertical elevation/depression is limited 40/5 degrees). It can attain a fire rate of 500 RPM and takes at least 10 seconds to reload a fresh belt bag. Accuracy-wise, it has a dispersion of 0.0014 rad.

It does not have an FCS but features the same manual zeroing ranges as the Mk30 .50 HMG with a minimum of 100 m up to a maximum of 1500 m. Adjustments are initially made with 100 m increments/decrements up to 400 m. Zeroing adjustments beyond 400 m are then made with 200 m increments/decrements up to 1200 m. The final zeroing adjustment (and limit) always skips straight to 1500 m.

FFV[]

Main article: Firing from vehicles (mechanic)#Prowler

Trivia[]

  • The Prowler is directly based on the real-world "DAGOR", an air-droppable light off-road vehicle developed by Polaris Industries.[1]
    • It was one of the candidate designs that took part in the U.S. Army's Ground Mobility Vehicle (GMV) programme, now known as Army Ground Mobility Vehicle (A-GMV), but ultimately lost in favour of General Dynamics' "Flyer" LSV.[2]
  • The armed variant of the Prowler was only available with a .50 cal HMG prior to the release of the Tanks DLC. The AT variant was eventually included as part of the free platform update[3] (though restrictions still apply to players who do not own the Apex expansion[4]).

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Soldier Systems Daily 2014, Presenting The Polaris Defense DAGOR, Soldier Systems Daily, viewed 1 January 2024, <https://soldiersystems.net/2014/10/06/presenting-polaris-defense-dagor/>.
  2. Keller, J 2019, General Dynamics wins SOCOM competition to build Ground Mobility Vehicle GMV 1.1, Military & Aerospace Electronics, viewed 1 January 2024, <https://www.militaryaerospace.com/communications/article/16715331/general-dynamics-wins-socom-competition-to-build-ground-mobility-vehicle-gmv-11>.
  3. Kovařič, V 2018, SPOTREP #00079, Arma 3, viewed 24 March 2023, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00079>.
  4. van 't Land, J.J. et al. 2019, Arma 3: DLC Restrictions, Bohemia Interactive Community Wiki, viewed 24 January 2024, <https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_DLC_Restrictions>.

External links[]

See also[]

Vehicles of comparable role and configuration[]

Vehicles of ArmA 3
Wheeled AFV-4 GorgonAMV-7 MarshallHatchbackHEMTTHunterIfritKartMB 4WDMSE-3 MaridOffroadProwlerQilinRhino MGS (UP) • StriderSUVTempestTractorTruckQuadbikeUGV StomperVanZamak (MRL)
Tracked 2S9 SochorAWC NyxBTR-K KamyshCRV-6e BobcatED-1D Mini UGV (ED-1E) • IFV-6a CheetahIFV-6c PantherFV-720 MoraM2A1 Slammer (A4 UP) • M4 ScorcherM5 SandstormMBT-52 KumaT-100 Varsuk (X Futura) • T-140 Angara (T-140K) • ZSU-39 Tigris
Rotor-wing AH-9 PawneeAH-99 BlackfootAR-2 DarterCH-49 MohawkCH-67 HuronDemining DroneMH-9 Hummingbird (M900) • Mi-48 KajmanMi-290 TaruMQ-12 FalconPO-30 OrcaUH-80 Ghost HawkUtility DroneWY-55 Hellcat
Fixed-wing A-143 BuzzardA-149 GryphonA-164 WipeoutCaesar BTTF/A-181 Black Wasp IIKH-3A FenghuangMQ-4A GreyhawkTo-199 NeophronTo-201 ShikraUCAV SentinelV-44X BlackfishY-32 Xi'an
Aquatic Assault BoatMotorboatRHIBSpeedboatSDVWater Scooter
(Parenthesis) denote variants.
Karts DLC | Helicopters DLC | Apex DLC | Jets DLC | Laws of War DLC | Tanks DLC | Contact DLC
Arma3-factionicon-nato NATO - Vehicles (ArmA 3)
Wheeled AMV-7 MarshallHEMTTHunterProwlerQuadbikeRhino MGS (UP) • UGV Stomper
Tracked CRV-6e BobcatED-1D Pelter (ED-1E Roller) • IFV-6a CheetahIFV-6c PantherM2A1 Slammer (A4 UP) • M4 ScorcherM5 Sandstorm
Rotor-wing AH-9 PawneeAH-99 BlackfootAL-6 PelicanAR-2 DarterCH-67 HuronMH-9 HummingbirdMQ-12 FalconUH-80 Ghost Hawk
Fixed-wing A-164 WipeoutF/A-181 Black Wasp IIMQ-4A GreyhawkUCAV SentinelV-44X Blackfish
Aquatic Assault Boat (Rescue) • Speedboat MinigunSDV
(Parenthesis) denote variants.
Helicopters DLC | Apex DLC | Jets DLC | Laws of War DLC | Tanks DLC | Contact DLC
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