On July 14, Greek company EODH, a specialist in armoring and protection systems, signed an important partnership agreement with KMW, so enhancing their long-lasting cooperation. The vehicle that benefits from this enhanced protection, which is already outstandingly high, is the Dingo 2 (D-Force ASPIS).
KMW Dingo 2, whose protection has been enhanced by EODH's ASPIS technology (Picture source Army Recognition)
As Stefan Montanari, Senior Vice ¨President Sales and Marketing of KMW (Krauss-Maffei Wegmann) points out, in spite of several Dingo 2s heavily damaged by IEDs or mines in operation, be it in Afghanistan or in the Sahel region, not a single crew member has ever been killed inside of this exceptional vehicle which is based on a Unimog chassis. This is the first unique record. The second one is that not a single Dingo 2 has ever been abandoned after having been even very badly damaged by an IED or mine: all of them were brought back home, repaired and returned to service. No other vehicle manufacturer in the world can claim such an achievement.
To explain why not a single fatal injury is to deplore in a Dingo 2, KMW explains that the German way of considering human protection in an armored vehicle is much more demanding than in other countries: aiming at only protecting the crew members’ lives is not enough: a soldier must not only remain alive but also remain able to fight after exiting from a heavily damaged Dingo 2 (or some other German-made armored vehicles). This has a cost in terms of designing the entire protection of the vehicle but KMW considers it as a basic principle. Hence Dingo 2 is the benchmark of its vehicle class.
In order to anticipate the upcoming challenges and threats in tomorrow’s operations, special materials and technologies, innovative and protective modules designed and tested by EODH make a protected vehicle even more protected. The ASPIS technology of EODH opens various modular or holistic options, all customized: passive protection, multifunctional and modular passive protection, mine protection, seats, transparent passive protection, IED passive protection, spall liner and liner passive protection, composite passive protection, active protection systems, and reactive protection systems.
The prototype D-Force ASPIS presented by EODH at DEFEA 2021, integrated on a Dingo 2, offers an increased modular ballistic protection compared to the original vehicle (already very efficiently protected), which does not affect its flexibility, performance and payload capacity.
KMW Dingo 2, whose protection has been enhanced by EODH's ASPIS technology (Picture source Army Recognition)
Greek Minister of National Defence, Nicos Panagiotopoulos, receives explanations from Andreas Mitsis, president of EODH (Picture source Army Recognition)
Stefan Montanari, Senior Vice ¨President Sales and Marketing of KMW, Andreas Mitsis, President of EODH, and Nicos Panagiotopoulos, Greek Minister of National Defence, discuss about Dingo 2's enhanced protection with EODH's ASPIS technology (Picture source Army Recognition)
