A new addition to the PANTHER ARFF vehicle family 
ROSENBAUER staff pose with the PANTHER truck destined for Dubai International Airport
ROSENBAUER, the leader in the global special vehicle market, has delivered its first ARFF from the PANTHER 8x8 series with a 19,000 l of extinguishing agent payload to Dubai International Airport.
The largest ARFF vehicle around
The new PANTHER 8x8 has two rear-mounted 625 hp engines with total propulsive power of 1,250 hp and has a maximum output of 10,000 l of extinguishing agents per minute. The vehicle's enormous engine capacity offers acceleration of 0-80 kph in less than 25 seconds and furnishes the vehicle, which weighs 52,000 kg, with a top speed of 135 kph. When responding to an alarm, the engines are twinned and the drive distributed to all four axles. During extinguishing, the engines are uncoupled, one serving the drive train to all the axles, whiste the other powers the pump system. The engines can operate fully independently of each other thus facilitating pump & roll operations.
With a total length of 13.095 m, the new 8x8 is 1.1 m longer than the previous PANTHER 8x8. The vehicle has a width of 3.0 m and the extended wheelbase and increased load-bearing capability of the axles are used to the full for an increase in payload capacity. Accordingly, both the water tank volume (+ 3,800 l) and the quantity of foam carried (+700 l) have been raised considerably. Moreover, as no adequate chassis was available on the market to meet these requirements, ROSENBAUER developed its own new solution.
Increased international demands
Dubai International Airport, a long-term customer of ROSENBAUER, responded with the new PANTHER the increasing demand in the fire-fighting area, created by the introduction of the wide-bodied Airbus A380. Indeed, the Dubai-based Emirates Airlines is the largest A380 operator, having placed orders for 58 aircrafts.
ROSENBAUER has designed the new ARFF vehicle for deployment at major international airports, which dispose over two or more runways and serve the A380. Using the new PANTHER, airport operators can more than fulfil the demands of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), while nevertheless operating their fire-fighting services in a far more economic manner than with the previous size of vehicle.
Thorough checks
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| The PANTHER 8x8 ARFF is designed for major international airports |
Furthermore, in the case of the new PANTHER, the electromagnetic compatibility was also scrutinized by creating an electromagnetic field around the vehicle in an absorber chamber.
Every frequency capable of having a negative effect on the vehicle's electronics was then applied. In spite of this jamming, all the electronic systems in the new PANTHER functioned perfectly. It should be added that such exhaustive test series represent a cornerstone in ROSENBAUER's comprehensive quality philosophy.
This new vehicle constitutes a prolongation of the PANTHER family's success story. Since its market launch, over 500 of these vehicles have been put into international operation. Indeed, with the PANTHER, which is the world's most powerful ARFF vehicle, ROSENBAUER has been able to further consolidate its market superiority on every continent.
