Article Posted on : - Jan 04, 2010

The BvS 10 armoured vehicle.

FARNBOROUGH (BNS): France has awarded British defence firm BAE Systems a $315 million contract to produce 129 BvS10 Mk II all-terrain vehicles for its Army.

The company will also supply troop carriers, command post and logistics vehicle variants, and a life-time support package, BAE Systems has announced.

It will produce the vehicles along with French companies such as Panhard and EADS.

The first batch of 53 BvS10 vehicles, also called Viking high-mobility machines in UK, is scheduled to be delivered to France in 2010.

They will be used to fight insurgency in Afghanistan.

BvS10 is an amphibious armoured vehicle fitted with a more powerful engine, improved ground clearance, power train and steering units as compared to its predecessors Bv 206 and Bv 206S vehicles.