Belgian, Austrian armored vehicles getting increased protection

BERN, Switzerland, March 18 (UPI) -- RUAG Defense of Switzerland is to develop ballistic protection kits for Pandur modular vehicles operated by Belgium and Austria.

The work comes under a joint procurement contract from the two countries, RUAG reported, but no information was given as to its monetary value. The Pandur, manufactured by Austria's Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge, is a modular light armored vehicle used in transport of personnel.

All five variants in the Belgian and Austrian fleets will receive the kit upgrades for increased protection against threats, including mines and improvised explosive devices.

RUAG Defence, which is expanding its ballistic protection business, said its kit will include SidePRO-KE/IED, a fully integrated, modular polyvalent composite protection system that uses a variety of advanced lightweight materials and which can be applied directly onto armored vehicles. Also included will be its MinePRO protection systems, which is a lightweight, blast and EFP resistant system.

Development, production and delivery of the kits for Belgium and Austria will begin this spring and be finished by the end of 2020.