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Iveco Defence Vehicles announces that on June
23, 2009 the Slovak Army and Iveco signed a
contract for a batch of 10 Light Multirole
Vehicles to be delivered by the end of the year.
Flavio Marchesoni, Sales & Marketing Director of
Iveco Defence Vehicles said: “This contract win
builds on the success of the LMV which has been
selected for front line duties by nine armies to
date”.
Designed to incorporate high tactical mobility
with high maximum road speed and optimal
off-road and cross-country performance, the LMV
has high protection levels against anti tank and
anti personnel mines with an emphasis on crew
protection rather than vehicle integrity. High
reliability, ease of maintenance and low through
life costs were key considerations during the
design of LMV. Built in and external diagnostics
allow timely identification of impending
malfunctions, allowing preventive maintenance to
be undertaken, whilst the facility to collect
functional data allows effective whole fleet
management. The use of COTS (Commercial off the
Shelf) main assemblies such as the gearbox and
engine ensures that performance and reliability
have been proven over many millions of road
miles in demanding environmental conditions.
This provides an outstanding level of
reliability and consequently excellent fleet
availability.
The LMV is suitable for numerous weapon system
installations such as 7,62mm or 12.7mm remote
weapon stations as well as 40mm grenade launcher
and is therefore well adapted to any
peacekeeping and patrol mission. The provision
of anti-mine protection has also been given a
high priority, with the over-riding aim being to
ensure the survival of the crew. To this end, a
normal control cab has been used and the results
of the latest research into mine protection has
been incorporated, including a vee-shaped
vehicle bottom. This can be up-armoured as
required to meet the appropriate level of
threat. The overall structure of the vehicle has
been designed in accordance with the
‘crashworthiness’ concept. The design of the
vehicle itself and the materials which have been
used in its construction are specifically
designed to manage and absorb the blast energy
generated by a mine detonation. Since the
beginning of operations in Afghanistan, the high
protection of the LMV has proved its worth in
saving the life of the crew in many occasions.
Iveco Defence Vehicles is renowned for the
application of advanced automotive innovations
and leading edge protection solutions to
purpose-built designs, resulting in a full range
of trucks, armoured, protected and multirole
vehicles. Iveco Defence Vehicles’ plant is
situated in Bolzano in Northern Italy, the site
of the factory originally housing Lancia’s
military vehicle plant was founded in 1937. The
company has developed an exceptional
international network delivering technical and
commercial expertise at a world-wide level.
Iveco Defence Vehicles boasts a dedicated
research and development organisation, whilst
also benefiting from Iveco’s corporate
engineering resources, having available a pool
of vehicle expert engineers in the Iveco HQ in
Torino. The marketing, production and aftersales
organisation are also based within the Bolzano
Facility. Supporting these activities is an
additional factory, based in Vittorio Veneto, a
centre of excellence for protection. In recent
years, Iveco Defence Vehicles has focused on
meeting the demands both of its domestic Italian
market and of export customers, The company’s
success in this latter area in particular has
been dramatic, with export sales growing from
20% of the total in the mid 90s to a figure of
70% today. More than 30,000 Iveco vehicles are
now in military service worldwide.
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