UAE buys SA's armoured vehicles
2005-11-11 17:14
Johannesburg - South Africa has won a $11m order (approximately R70m) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) armed forces for a number of RG-31 mine-protected armoured personnel carriers, with further orders already under discussion.
The production process is already underway at BAE Systems' OMC plant in Benoni, with delivery scheduled for the first and second quarters of 2006.
"The RG-31 (Mk3A) is a world-renowned mine-protected armoured personnel carrier (MP APC) in service globally with various peace-keeping organisations and armies - including the US Army which placed an order for 148 earlier this year," BAE Systems said.
The RG-31 for the UAE has been customised according to customer needs with a variety of features including Stanag (Standard Nato agreement) Level 2 protection against armour-piercing ammunition, a more powerful engine, upgraded air-conditioning and additional side doors.
Technology impressive
OMC, working with their UAE distributor in Abu Dhabi, International Golden Group, won this order in the face of competition from other mine-protected vehicle suppliers, said BAE Systems.
The officers of the UAE Armed Forces who visited Land Systems OMC's production facilities in Benoni, near Johannesburg, were impressed with the technology, agility and response of South Africa's premier armoured vehicle manufacturer and its combat-proven mine-protection technology.
The South Africans were equally impressed with their UAE counterparts.
"IGG executives and the UAE Armed Forces were extremely professional in their assessment and execution," said Marinus du Plessis, the OMC marketing executive responsible for the order.
RG-31 praised
The RG-31 has received numerous accolades from users who have survived attacks by mines and other Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Crew and vehicle survivability is achieved through applied system engineering techniques and utilisation of Land Systems OMC's unrivalled knowledge-base gained through service feedback from operations in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Balkans, the company says.
The RG-31 is already utilised by other peacekeeping operations in the Middle East, along with its sister vehicle, the RG-12, which is successfully deployed in three countries in the region - the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
In 2002, prior to the company's 2004 purchase by BAE Systems, Land Systems OMC (then Alvis OMC) sold a number of RG-12 armoured personnel carriers to the Dubai Police Force.
- SAPA