Greek Army has received an initial batch of 44 M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicles (ASV), the first of a two-part Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case that will ultimately see 1,200 vehicles delivered, MilitaryLeak reports. The vehicles are Excess Defense Articles and the Army uses FMS to facilitate divesture, while simultaneously building partner capacity.
The Hellenic Armed Forces receive the vehicles at almost only the transportation costs. As the first vehicles come from a depot located in Europe, transportations costs are much lower than for the remaining vehicles that will be shipped from Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, California. The vehicles arriving from Germany are also in operational condition since storage at another location was not needed. “The 21st Theater Sustainment Command (in Germany) put the vehicles on a train and sent them to the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Greece where the transfer was initiated by the Office of Defense Cooperation,” Marcus Mackey, USASAC G-3 mission support for EDA, said.
The ASV M1117 Guardian was designed and manufactured by the American company Textron Marine & Land Systems. The external modular expandable armor system of ceramic composite material provides ballistic protection for the crew, ammunition, fuel tanks, and storage areas against 12.7mm armor-piercing ammunition. It has a crew of four. The ASV’s M1117 Guardian firepower consists of a one-person, non-stabilized, turreted primary weapons station with a mounted 40mm automatic grenade launcher (MK19 MOD 3) and a .50-caliber machine gun (M2/M48). The turret traverses 360° and allows for an elevation of 45°.