Arquus is ready to deliver the first VBL Ultima, the assembly line in Marolles having been inaugurated in late 2019. © Arquus
the Eagle, which has a 15 tonnes GVW, with 7.3 tonnes payload and up to 14 seats for the crew and dismounts. On 18 November armasuisse, the Swiss MoD acquisition branch, signed a contract for 100 Eagle 6x6 in the reconnaissance version; these will be fitted with an L3Harris Technologies’ Wescam MX-RSTA electro-optic/infra-red sighting system installed on a telescopic mast and with an Elbit Systems C2 suite. Production should start within 2020 with deliveries planned between 2023 and 2025. In April 2020, a further deal for the Eagle 6x6 was announced by the German BAAINBw, which signed a contract for 80 armoured ambulance vehicles for the German Army. Known as mittleres geschütztes Sanitätskraftfahrzeug (mgSanKfz) they will fill the gap between the Boxer and the Eagle 4x4 ambulances; the new vehicles will transport up to two patients on stretchers with full medical assistance. The crew will be of four, the driver, two emergency paramedics and a doctor forming the medical party. Smoke grenade launchers providing a defensive smoke-screen should be installed. First deliveries are planned for 2021, the programme completion being forecasted in 2024. Some further projects are ongoing at GDELS in the LAV field, however the company declined to comment. With more than 4,000 delivered in over 17 countries Iveco DV LMV is definitely one of the main European LAVs , the main customer being
In the last few months GDELS bagged the first two orders for its Eagle 6x6 vehicle, one from Germany that acquired the vehicle in the ambulance version. © GDELS
Italy, which received over 2,000 vehicles. The original LMV evolved considerably, augmenting its GVW up to 7.1 tonnes while the increasing demand for protection coming from the field was met at the expenses of the payload, which was consequently eroded down to less than 1,000 kg. The on board power was also increased, adopting a more powerful alternator to cope with numerous subsystems, among them the powerhungry C-IED jammer. Iveco DV is answering recent export contracts providing its customers with dedicated versions obtained with the insertion of the various subsystems developed during the last years. An example is that of Brazil that selected the LMV in February 2018; an urgent operational requirement initially was answered by the Italian Army providing 16 vehicles taken from the refurbished vehicles stock, Italy having launched a programme to restore its LMVs of the first batches. Known as Lince K2, the work consists in adding a second roof hatch, replacing the alternator and part of the electric circuit, as well as some mechanical subsystems. Brazil, then filed a contract to Iveco DV for 32 new vehicles produced according to the original requirement, which includes elements of the of the latest versions. In 2013 Iveco DV started developing the wholly new LMV 2, which maintains its predecessor EDR | July/August 2020
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