According to a tweet from MaxDefense Philippines, the Philippine Army has finally received its ArmTrac 100-350 Mk.2 mine/IED search and detection vehicles after its British manufacturer ArmTrac shipped them and arrived recently at a port in Luzon..
The vehicles were acquired under the Philippine Army’s Combat Engineering Equipment Lot 6 – Vehicle Mounted Mine Detectors Acquisition Project under the Horizon 2 phase of the Revised AFP Modernization Program, It was done through a Philippines DND – United Kingdom MOD Government-to-Government (G2G) deal.
This vehicle is designated as a Bomb Search and Clearance Vehicle termed locally as a “Vehicle Mounted Mine Detector (VMMD)”. Following an MOU and Special Implementing Arrangement (SIA) signed at the Government level, the Bid was awarded on 5 January 2021 and the contract was signed in April 2021 for 4 x VMMDs, to be delivered in 2021/22. The VMMD, based on the Armtrac 100-350 Mk2, provides the capability to accommodate two operators within the armored cabin to operate a vegetation cutter on the rear robotic arm to clear high vegetation on roadsides and a detector on the front robotic arm to detect the IEDs together with a paint marker to indicate the position. A small excavator bucket, fitted to the rear robotic arm in place of the vegetation cutter, allows some excavation of earth for exposure of buried EO.
The Armtrac 100-350 Mk2 is a heavily modified and armored to STANAG 4569 Level 1, multipurpose C-IED/demining machine. It is built around the JCB Fastrac 8000 tractor. As such, many of the components and spare parts are obtainable worldwide. It can operate as a Route Proving and Clearance vehicle and a Bomb Search and Detection vehicle.