Egypt and American AM General have entered a partnership agreement to locally produce the (High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle) HMMWV tactical vehicle.
A Memorandum of Understanding between AM General and the Egyptian Ministry of Military Production (MoMP) will facilitate Egypt’s development of its domestic military automobile industry.
“Today’s signing ceremony further solidifies our long-standing relationship with the government of Egypt,” said Andy Hove, AM General President and CEO.
“We look forward to applying our manufacturing and design expertise to help grow the Egyptian automotive industry.”
According to the MoU, the long-term partnership would establish a phased approach to investigate ways in which AM General can collaborate with the MoMP to develop and build tactical vehicles in-country.
MoMP and AM General will study the feasibility of developing an ‘in-country assembly and manufacturing’ capability which will enable the MoMP to replace and/or supplement its existing HMMWV fleet.
Also, the study will result in the development of a detailed plan to move forward with partnership agreement.
US Ambassador to Cairo Jonathan Cohen and the Minister of Military Production Mohamed Morsi witnessed the signing ceremony.
Morsi said during the ceremony that the deal comes as part of the ministry’s efforts to support local manufacturing and promote the use of modern technologies domestically, in addition to exchanging expertise with global companies in various fields.
AM General is a global provider of tactical vehicle and mobility systems, the company has exported over 300,000 vehicles in more than 70 countries.
Meanwhile, Egypt already fields the HMMWV (High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle), having acquired 100 M114 up-armoured HMMWVs in 2003/4.
This new deal is part of a broader initiative to reinforce Egypt’s indigenous military industrial complex. Egypt already produce several types of mobility systems including the Temsah series tactical vehicles.
Temsah which means “Crocodile” in arabic) has expanded to six vehicles comprising of the Temsah 1, Temsah 2 (Temsah Bus), Temsah 3 Protected Patrol Vehicle, Light Temsah, Temsah 4, and Temsah 5.
The latest variant being the Temsah 5 4×4 armoured vehicle was unveiled on Thursday 4 February 2021 by the Kader Factory for Developed Industries, part of the Egyptian Ministry of Defence Industrial Engineering Complex.
Additionally, last week President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated a new Military-Industries Factory (No.300) and production lines for the manufacture of armoured vehicles, firearms, ammunition and shells
Apparently, Egypt will begin mass production of the ST-500 LTV and the Sinai-200 IFV this year.