New vehicles delivered to French special forces

Feb. 10 (UPI) -- The first batch of heavy vehicles for French special forces have been delivered to troops by the country's Directorate General of Armaments.

The vehicles, part of an initial batch of 25, were made by Renault Trucks Defense, who designed and developed the vehicles in under 13 months to meet the military's urgent requirements.

DGA said the trucks will improve interoperability and the level of performance of the vehicle fleet of the special forces' ground, air and maritime components.

The DGA contract calls for a total of 443 vehicles -- 220 heavy vehicles and 241 light vehicles.

Panhard, a subsidiary of RTD, and Essonne Sécurité were both involved in the project, DGA said.

The technical specifications of the heavy vehicle were not disclosed.