On Sept. 24, Netherlands State Secretary for Defense Barbara Visser announced that the Dutch Marine Corps (Korps Mariniers) will receive 124 new articulated tracked vehicles from 2024 for an amount of 100 to 250 million euros. They will replace some of the aging Hägglunds (now BAE Systems) Bandvagn 206 and BAE Systems Viking BvS 10 vehicles.
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Dutch Marines in a BAE Systems BvS 10 Viking ashore during Exercise Trident Juncture 2015 (Picture source: U.S. Navy/Commander David Benham)
The future vehicles must be lightly armored (like those in service with the French army) and remain deployable in the same extreme condition as the current fleet.
For this contract, the Netherlands is cooperating with Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden on their purchase, as agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding on Multinational Cooperation on All Terrain Vehicles concluded in 2019. Sweden, original operator of this vehicle type, is coordinating this project. The intention is that the first vehicles will arrive in 2024 and the last in 2027.
The BvS 10 is similar to, but distinct from, the Bv 206 or Bv 206S. It is a much larger and fully amphibious armoured vehicle based upon the characteristic twin-cab, articulated steering system typical of Hägglunds all-terrain vehicles. The main differences from the older Bv206s are a more powerful Cummins 5.9 litre diesel engine, improved ground clearance, and newly developed chassis, power train and steering units that give the vehicle considerably enhanced speed (from previous 51.5 km/h on road) and comfort on road and in terrain, as well as greater load-carrying capability (up to 5 tons), and the ability to add various modular sub-systems such as add-on armour, weapon mounts, a load-changer and cargo platforms.
On 18 December 2009, the French Army placed an initial order for 53 BvS 10 Vikings. The later total order would be for 129 vehicles. Hereabove, Vikings of the 2nd Régiment Etranger de Génie (2nd Engineer Regt of the Foreign Legion) (Picture source: Army Recognition)
