First Infantry Fighting Vehicles to arrive in Estonia in fall
The first CV9035 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) bought by Estonia from Holland will be delivered this fall, a senior planning officer at the defense headquarters told BNS.
The first batch of 14 IFVs, or the number used by one company, will arrive in Estonia in the fall, Lt. Col. Kalle Teras, senior staff officer at the planning department of the defense headquarters, said on Wednesday. Training of the unit that will use the IFVs will start in the second quarter of next year.
Teras said that eight personnel from the Scouts Battalion will head for Holland "shortly" to attend a course for users of CV9035s, learn tactics and take part in a live fire exercise. In addition training courses are to be held in Holland this year for mechanics for the auxiliary armored vehicles built on the chassis of the Leopard 1 tank as well as a course for crews of recovery vehicles.
Last year, nine active service personnel from Estonia completed an armored vehicle carrier driver's course, an armored vehicle repair and maintenance course, squad and platoon tactics course and live fire training in Finland. In addition five active service personnel attended a course for company commanders in Finland. Four active service personnel completed an IVF hull mechanic's course, four active service personnel a turret mechanic's course and four active service personnel an IVF driver instructor's course in Holland.
Estonia concluded an agreement with Holland at the end of 2014 for the acquisition of 44 units of CV9035NL and support vehicles built on the chassis of the Leopard 1 tank for 113 million euros. The IFVs will be delivered in 2016-2018. The oldest of the second-hand vehicles is seven years old and all of the vehicles will undergo service and, if necessary, repair in Holland before delivery.
In addition Estonia is set to buy from Norway for 635,000 euros 37 bodies of CV-90 IFVs that will be rebuilt into auxiliary armored vehicles. Thirty-five of the 37 units will be converted into auxiliary vehicles in the near future and the remaining two will be used for driver training. The price of the contract is 635,000 euros to which the cost of transporting the IFVs to Estonia will be added. The platforms will be delivered in 2016-2017.
Source: BNS