The New Zealand Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a contract with URO Vehículos Especiales SA (UROVESA) to procure the Spanish company’s VAMTAC (Vehículo de Alta Movilidad Táctico) 4×4 high-mobility tactical vehicles for the New Zealand Army, the MoD announced on 21 November.
The MoD noted that UROVESA will initially deliver a first tranche of 40 VAMTAC CK3 medium vehicles and 20 VAMTAC ST5 light vehicles worth NZ$100 million by 2027 as part of the Protected Mobility Capability Project (PMCP) programme.
It added that the deal represents the first of its kind with Spain in terms of scale, and the vehicles are also in use with 20 countries around the world including Singapore and NATO countries.
According to the ministry, the first tranche covers the purchase of the vehicles, spare parts, computing and communications equipment, support equipment, project costs, and introduction into service costs. The new vehicles will also be equipped with the service’s Network Enabled Army compliant communications systems and equipment and will replace 25% of the New Zealand Army’s Pinzgauer and Unimog vehicle fleet, which have been in operation for almost 40 years.
“Both the Unimog and Pinzgauer vehicles have served [the army] well over the years – they have rightly been described as Army’s workhorses – but their retirement from service is overdue. And so, it is with great excitement that we will see the start of the replacement of these essential platforms,” said Chief of Army Major General Rose King.
According to PMCP Capability Integration Lead Lieutenant Colonel Brendon Jones, the new vehicles will offer improved performance and traffic ability for the army.
“These vehicles are well equipped for not only our terrain here in New Zealand, but also the operational environments we deploy to – they have great carrying capacity, have rollover protection and the medium variant can wade through water depths up to 1.5m, which is an upgrade on the current Unimog’s 1.2m,” said Lt Col Jones.
“They also have an internally operated tyre inflation system, which can adjust tyre pressures depending on the difficult or soft terrain,” he added. “Those attributes will be invaluable for us for domestic and regional civil emergency responses.”
by Jr Ng
