Norway receives armoured engineer vehicles

KMW has handed over the first of six Leguan AVLBs to the NDMA. (KMW)

Norway has received new armoured engineer vehicles (AEVs) over the past month. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) announced in a press release on 29 October that it had handed over the first of six Leopard 2-based Leguan armoured vehicle-launched bridge (AVLB) systems to the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA).

The announcement came a month after the agency handed over the first three of six Wisent 2 AEVs to the Norwegian Army at the Rødsmoen training area on 30 September. The NDMA said the three AEVs would be used in Rena, southern Norway, where the Telemark Battalion is based, while the last three to be delivered during the first half of 2022 would go to the north of the country.

The agency ordered the Leguans, plus simulators and accessories, from KMW for an undisclosed price in March 2019 and the Wisent 2s from Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft mbH (FFG) for EUR45 million (USD52 million) in September 2018. The Wisent 2s were delivered to the NDMA in 2019 and were tested by army training establishments in preparation for their transfer from the agency.