Belgium Becomes Dingo 2 Largest Operator

Released on Monday, January 10, 2005

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann has announced that the Kingdom of Belgium placed an order for 220 Dingo 2 all-protected carrier vehicles with an option on 132 additional carrier vehicles, which will bring the total number of Dingos purchased by Belgium to 352. To date, Germany (205) and Austria (20) have both ordered Dingo I and II totaling 225 units.

The firm order vehicles are valued at 170 million Euro, $220 million, which represents the biggest order placed so far and makes Belgium the largest operator for the type. The vehicles will be delivered customized in various mission variants beginning in late this year and will continue through 2011. The vehicles will be manufactured at KMW's facilities in Munich with participation of both Belgian and German suppliers.

Dingo 2 is an improved version of Dingo 1 all-protected carrier vehicle introduced in 2000. Dingo has been proven in many foreign missions protecting its 8-man crew from small caliber guns, hand-held weapons, artillery shells, NBC agents, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. Thanks to its UNIMOG chassis, it reaches speeds of 90 kilometers per hour and has an combat radius around 1,000 kilometers. Moreover, it can be airlifted by C-160 Transall, C-130 Hercules and the newest A400M tactical transport aircraft.