US orders armoured personnel carriers, trucks, UAVs for African countries

A Scan Eagle UAV

02 October 2015 by defenceWeb

Five African countries will receive 62 armoured personnel carriers manufactured by Mack Defense of the United States under a contract awarded by the United States Army in support of US Africa Command, while another six countries will receive Oskosh military trucks and two will receive Scan Eagle UAVs.

The US Department of Defence announced the armoured vehicle contract on 25 September, which will see Mack Defense of Allentown, Pennsylvania, supplying the vehicles to Cameroon, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tunisia and Uganda.

The firm fixed-price foreign military sales contract is worth $24 974 528 and covers armoured personnel carriers in both left-hand and right-hand drive as well as common spare parts.

Work will be performed in France with an estimated completion date of 30 December 2016. Bids were solicited via the Internet with seven received. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

In July the United States Army announced it would seek between 19 and 400 new armoured personnel carriers for the US military’s Africa Command. The presolicitation notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website, stated that the vehicles should be 2015 or later year models and have a minimum seating capacity for ten passengers. They should also have B7 360-degree ballistic protection (against armour piercing 7.62 mm rounds), 4x4 drivetrain with a V-hull chassis design, manual transmission, mechanically-controlled, high-sulphur (5,000 ppm) diesel engine in both left-hand drive and right-hand drive and operator manuals in English and French or Arabic.

The estimated three-year combined vehicle quantities in year one are 155, year two 125, and year three 120.

Also on 25 September the US Department of Defense announced it had awarded Oshkosh Defense LLC a $21 774 963 modification to an existing foreign military sales contract for Djibouti, Jordan, Kenya, Tunisia, Uganda and Ethiopia for an additional 84 Medium Tactical Vehicle trucks and 59 B-kits (supplemental armour).

The estimated completion date of the truck contract is 28 February 2017.

Oskosh offers its Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles in a variety of configurations, such as five ton tractor, 8.8 ton Load Handling System, 4x4 and 6x6 cargo, ten ton dump truck and five ton wrecker.

One of the other contracts awarded late last month include the delivery of one Insitu Scan Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system (comprising multiple aircraft) to Kenya and another to Cameroon. In-country work will be carried out in Nanyuki in central Kenya and the Cameroonian port city of Doula. Both contracts are expected to be completed by September 2016.