The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) will receive an additional 1,673 Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) also known as Humvees, it has been reported.
The Humvees will be built and delivered to the Afghan forces under a new contract awarded to AM General worth USD356 million.
The vehicles will be delivered to the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) forces, the US-based company has said in a statement released on 1st August
The contract calls on AM General to deliver 1,259 units of the M1151A1B1 and 414 units of the M1152A1B2 models.
Vehicle manufacturing will commence in August at the company’s military assembly plant in Mishawaka, Indiana, and is scheduled to be completed by 29 July, 2017.
The delivery of the vehicles could further boost the protection of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) who are full lead of the security responsibilities with the conclusion of the coalition forces combat mission since last year.
This comes as the NATO-led Resolute Support announced earlier this year that the Afghan national security forces will receive over one hundred M1151 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) as part of efforts by the NATO-led Resolute Support mission to equip the Afghan forces for 2016 fighting season.
The M1151 Enhanced Armament Carrier is an improved version of the standard Humvee (HMMWV) having a heavier chassis and improved engine to handle add-on armor.
The international and regional allies of Afghanistan have stepped up efforts to equip the Afghan forces amid deteriorating security situation in the country.
The Afghan armed forces will also receive 55 Mobile Strike Force vehicles under a contract by the US Department of Defense (DoD).
The vehicles would be built by Textron Marine & Land Systems. “Textron Marine & Land Systems, New Orleans, Louisiana, was awarded a $56,176,864 firm-fixed-price foreign military sales (Afghanistan) contract for 55 Mobile Strike Force vehicles with related fielding hardware and field service representative services for system deprocessing,” the statement said.
The statement released earlier this year further added that the work will be performed in Slidell, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of April 28, 2016.
