Denmark to begin trials of potential M113 replacements

Denmark plans to start trials on 18 March of up to eight armoured fighting vehicles to meet the Danish Army requirement for a new tracked or wheeled vehicle to replace their currently deployed M113 series of tracked armoured personnel carriers (APC) and variants.

Brief details of the Danish Army M113 replacement programme were given by Major Claus Heesakker Johansen of the Danish Army Combat Centre at the Development Network Armoured Vehicle Survivability Conference held in Munich in mid-January.

The four 8x8 wheeled vehicles are Nexter Systems with the Vehicule Blinde de combat d'Infanterie (VBCI), General Dynamics European Land Systems - MOWAG with the latest Piranha 5, Patria with the Armoured Modular Vehicle (AMV), and ARTEC with the Boxer.

The four tracked contenders are FFG Flensburger with the Protected Mission Module Carrier (PMMC) G5, BAE Systems with the Armadillo, Rheinmetall with Marder Evolution, and General Dynamics European Land Systems - Santa Barbara Sistemas with ASCOD 2.