The Netherlands sign a contract for 918 12kN vehicles with Iveco Defence Vehicles

By Luca Peruzzi and Paolo Valpolini

During the NIDV Exhibition Defence & Security, which took place in Rotterdam on 28 November, the Dutch Ministry of Defence signed the contract announced in September 2019 for the acquisition of a new 4×4 vehicle known as 12kN. The signing ceremony was attended by the Director of the Defence Material Organisation (DMO), Vice Admiral Arie Jan de Waard.

The contract includes the development and the provision of 918 vehicles. As the name indicates, the vehicle will have a payload of around 12 kN, that is over 1,200 kg. It will be based on a chassis with a considerable ground clearance, to which different cabins will be fitted; it is unclear if the 12kN will have two chassis with different wheelbases, as it is the case i.e. for the LMV.

EDR On-Line understands that the 12kN will be available in many configurations, one of them being visible in the artist impression released by Iveco DV at the Rotterdam exhibition, which is fitted with a protected cabin hosting five persons, the rear part being non protected, the vehicle being in the pick-up configuration. A version with full-extended cabin, adding three more seats should also be available, as well as many other specialised versions, both protected and non-protected. The 12kN will be employed not only by the Koninklijke Landmacht (Army), but also by the other services, Koninklijke Luchtmacht (Air Force), the Koninklijke Marine (Navy) and the Koninklijke Marechaussee (Gendarmerie), hence the high number of variants.

Iveco DV is currently hastily working on the vehicle development; the prototype should be ready by fall 2021, to start company trials by late that year, acceptance trials by the customer being scheduled for 2022, production to be launched thereafter.

The contract signed at the Rotterdam exhibition is short 357 vehicles compared to the number announced in September; these will be ordered with follow-on contracts, depending on budget availability.

Artist impression courtesy Iveco DV