Editing Wiesel AWC (section)

==History==
The Wiesel was developed for the West German army to meet a requirement for an air-transportable light armored vehicle for use by its [[airborne forces|airborne troops]], as the infantry of the West German [[Bundeswehr]], especially airborne infantry, were considered unprepared to successfully fight enemy [[main battle tank]]s (MBT) in the 1970s. The requirements were that the vehicle should fit in common [[NATO]] transport planes and could eventually be air-dropped. It should be able to fight infantry as well as enemy tanks or aircraft. [[Porsche]] produced some prototypes of the future fighting vehicle for the Bundeswehr in 1975, but the Bundeswehr stopped the project in 1978 due to lack of funds. Nevertheless, Porsche continued development, because of interest from other countries.

The Bundeswehr eventually ordered 343 of the vehicles in 1985.<ref name="Tank">{{cite web |date=15 July 2014 |title=Wiesel AWC |url=http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/West_Germany/Wiesel_AWC.php |access-date=7 June 2015 |publisher=Tanks Encyclopedia}}</ref> The ''Wiesel'' was introduced as a new weapon system for the Bundeswehr with deliveries beginning in the late 1980s. The vehicle was named ''Wiesel'' ("[[weasel]]") because of its small size and agility, which make it very difficult to detect on the battlefield. Production of the Wiesel 1 ended in 1993. Of 343 Wiesel 1 vehicles, 210 were armed with Raytheon [[BGM-71 TOW|TOW]] [[Wire-guided missile|wire-guided]] [[anti-tank guided missile]] system and 133 have the one-man KUKA turret E6-II-A1 armed with the dual-feed [[Rheinmetall Mk 20 RH-202]] 20&nbsp;mm [[autocannon]]. Germany deployed both types to [[Somalia]] in 1993 as part of the [[United Nations]] forces intervention in the [[Somali Civil War]] ([[United Nations Operation in Somalia II|UNISOM II]]).

The Wiesel 2 is an enlarged and extended version of the Wiesel 1 with five road wheels instead of four, and a more powerful engine.  The Bundeswehr ordered 178 of the new vehicle in various types, including air defense, radar, and anti-aircraft missile launcher, 120&nbsp;mm mortar carrier, command and fire control, and ambulance variants.<ref name="Tank"/> The Wiesel 2 entered service in 2001.

The Wiesel 1 MELLS and MK variants were used by German troops of Luftlandebrigade 1 in April 2023 to secure an airfield near Khartoum in support of the [[Operation Raus aus Khartum|German governments evacuation of German citizens]] from Sudan during the [[Sudanese civil war (2023–present)|Sudanese Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-24 |title=MilEvakOp im Sudan – Bundeswehr veröffentlicht Details zum Einsatzverband |url=https://soldat-und-technik.de/2023/04/streitkraefte/34634/milevakop-im-sudan-bundeswehr-veroeffentlicht-details-zum-einsatzverband/ |access-date=2024-10-20 |website=soldat-und-technik.de |language=de-DE}}</ref>