The Camerroonian Rapid Intervention Battalions (BIR) are now equipped with the French-made ACMAT fortress Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC). The new vehicles are being fielded at Salak, the headquarters of Operation Alpha, the elite force’s deployment in the Far North Region.
The ACMAT APC are part of a 2015 62-vehicle order for Cameroon, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tunisia, and Uganda by the US Department of Defense (DoD). They were subsequently renamed Cyclones in the BIR service with fifteen units delivered in early 2017.
The Cameroonian version are more powerful in the area of self-defense, they are fitted with improved add-on armor mounted on both sides of the hull and also enhanced bullet-resistant windows.
Formerly known as Bastion HM, the Fortress is a development of the ACMAT Bastion APC. The vehicle weighs 14.5 tones, independent suspension and are armed with a General Purpose Machine Gun.