The French Giat Industries and German KMW announced in May they will jointly develop a Medium Size Multi-role Armored Fighting Vehicle. This cooperation positions the two companies in a lead position to address future European requirements addressed in a NATO Common Staff Target for a medium size multi-role armored fighting vehicle.
The cooperation will cover commonly funded activities to develop a 20 ton 6×6 vehicle demonstrator by 2010. The vehicle will offer crew protection and mobility beyond the standards of existing vehicles in this weight class. The new platform will provide a common basis for a range of military mission variants including fighting vehicles, air defense-, engineering- and fire support-systems, other mission fields such as ambulance, recovery, repairs, mortar, anti-tank, NBC, command & control and reconnaissance.
