Pandur

The Pandurs were any of several military units beginning with Trenck's Pandurs, Habsburg Monarchy military unit established in 1741, fighting in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Silesian Wars. Others to follow included Vladimirescu's Pandurs, militia established by Tudor Vladimirescu in the Wallachian uprising of 1821, Pandurs (Croatian Military Frontier), frontier guard infantry deployed in the Croatian Military Frontier in late 18th century, Pandurs (Kingdom of Dalmatia), frontier guard infantry deployed in the Kingdom of Dalmatia in the 19th century.

Hence the name of the Pandur, an Austrian armoured personnel carrier:

As well as French navy ship Pandour (1780), renamed HMS Pandora after its capture by the Royal Navy in 1795; and four British ships called HMS Pandour..

Etymology

The term pandur made its way into military use via the Hungarian—being used in Hungarian as a loanword, in turn originating from the Croatian term pudar, though the nasal in place of the "u" suggests a borrowing before Croatian innovated its own reflex for Proto-Slavic /ɔ̃/. "Pudar" is still applied to security guards protecting crops in vineyards and fields, and it was coined from the verb puditi (also spelled pudati) meaning to chase or scare away. The meaning of the Hungarian loanword was expanded to guards in general, including law enforcement officers. The word was likely ultimately derived from medieval Latin banderius or bannerius, meaning either a guardian of fields or summoner, or follower of a banner.

Pandura

The pandura (Ancient Greek: πανδοῦρα, pandoura) is an ancient Greek string instrument from the Mediterranean basin.

Lutes have been present in ancient Greece since the 4th century BC.

They were also present in Mesopotamia since the Akkadian era, or the third millennium BCE.

Greek

The ancient Greek pandoura was a medium or long-necked lute with a small resonating chamber, used by the ancient Greeks. It commonly had three strings: such an instrument was also known as the trichordon (τρίχορδον, McKinnon 1984:10). Its descendants still survive as the Greek tambouras and bouzouki, the North African kuitra, the Eastern Mediterranean saz and the Balkan tamburica and remained popular also in the near east and eastern Europe, too, usually acquiring a third string in the course of time, since the fourth century BCE.

Renato Meucci (1996) suggests that the some Italian Renaissance descendants of Pandura type were called chitarra italiana, mandore or mandola. In the 18th century the pandurina (mandore) was often referred to as mandolino napoletano.

Pandur II

The Pandur II 8x8 is an improved modular all-wheel-drive version of the Pandur 6x6 APC wheeled armoured vehicle. It was developed as a private venture by the Austrian company Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge and is currently in production for the Portuguese Armed Forces. Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge is part of General Dynamics European Land Combat Systems, which is also the parent company of MOWAG of Switzerland and Santa Bárbara Sistemas of Spain.

The most significant change is the introduction of an 8x8 configuration with more interior space. The construction is an all-welded steel hull with optional armour upgrades. The basic armour package is designed to protect against 7.62 to 14.5 mm (0.300 to 0.571 in) armour-piercing rounds (customers may select a choice of armour thickness). The vehicle is designed to be transportable in a Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. The driver is seated on the left at the front and the engine is to the right. The driver is provided with a single piece hatch cover as well as three day periscopes, one of which can be replaced by a passive periscope for night missions. The vehicle is fitted with a two-stage synchronized distribution gear box for both road and cross country use. Improved suspension will be fitted for optimum cross country mobility. The vehicle is designed to take a number of turret systems (such as the SP 30 turret also mounted on the ASCOD AFV of the Spanish and Austrian Armies), or it can be used as a standard APC with a mounted machine gun.