Danish Army Selects Five Armoured Vehicles for Evaluations

The Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO) has shortlisted five out of eight vehicles for the Royal Danish Army's ageing M113 armoured personnel carriers (APC) fleet replacement contract.

Vehicles selected in the tracked category include BAE Systems Hagglunds CV90 Armadillo, Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) with G5 protected mission module carrier (PMMC), and the General Dynamics European Land Systems - Santa Barbara Sistemas ASCOD 2 vehicle, as reported by Shephard.

Nexter Systems' Vehicule de Combat d'Infanterie (VBCI) and General Dynamics European Land Systems - Mowag Piranha V vehicles have been shortlisted in the wheeled vehicles category, while the remaining three bidders, Rheinmetall Landsysteme, Patria Land Systems and ARTEC were rejected.

The companies submitted bids in July 2012 for the contract, which seeks delivery of approximately 360 vehicles in six different configurations, with options ranging from 206 to 450 vehicles.

Expected configurations include an infantry APC, command and control, ambulance, mortar carrier, as well as engineering and repair vehicles.

Featuring a 15-year framework agreement, the contract also involves provision of support services for the vehicles while they remain in operational service.

The shortlisted vehicles are set to undergo a 17-week long evaluation programme at Oksbøl camp, Denmark, as well as several other locations on the Jutland Peninsula starting from the middle of April 2013.

Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2015 and finish in 2022; the vehicles will also support 45 BAE CV9035 MkIII infantry fighting vehicles and 90 Mowag 8x8 Piranha III APCs currently is use with the army.

The Danish Army operates 632 heavily-armoured M113s in different configurations, which also includes tactical air control party carrier and fire-fighting capacities.