According to Luxembourg Times, Luxembourg's government agreed on June 2 to spend up to €367 million to replace and maintain its fleet of armored military vehicles in a new effort to fulfill commitments to spend more on the shared defense of NATO.
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KMW Dingo 2 of the Luxembourg Army (Picture source: Army Recognition)
The budget will enable the purchase of 80 lightly armored vehicles for the Luxembourg army, as well as their logistical costs during their life cycle of about 15 to 20 years, Defense Minister François Bausch said. The army's existing fleet of 42 AM General HUMVEEs (33 following another source) and 48 KMW Dingo 2 Protected Reconnaissance Vehicles (fitted with Kongsberg Protector RWS) are obsolete and will be replaced by 2025.
The decision is part of an effort for the small but wealthy Grand Duchy to spend at least 0.72% of its gross domestic product on mutual defense effort by 2024, still far below the promise of NATO members to spend 2% of GDP by that date, Luxembourg Times comments.
The decision to renew part of the army's vehicle fleet is based on Luxembourg's desire to strengthen its privileged partnership with the Belgian and French armies and therefore to benefit from compatible equipment within the framework of binational units in particular, at the image of the project to create a Belgian-Luxembourg battalion. A call for tenders will be launched in the coming months to determine precisely which model will enter service in 2025.
