According to Military Africa, Nigeria has taken delivery of the first batch of Chinese Dongfeng Mengshi (Warrior) CSK131 4×4 armored vehicles. They arrived in Nigeria on Sunday, November 7. Photographs showing at least 30 vehicles painted in factory green in Nigeria’s seaport surfaced on social media.
This recent acquisition follows a pattern of procuring certain hardware from China. Over the past few years, the Nigerian government has turned to Chinese defense companies for land-based systems and armed unmanned aerial vehicles. State-owned Dongfeng last March announced that it has been awarded a contract to supply 100 Warriors to an African customer. Although the Chinese company declined to mention the African client but noted that the order was signed on 15 August 2020 between DongFeng and Poly Technologies and that the deal is the largest purchase contract signed by both companies. According to the contract, Poly Technology will purchase more than 100 Dongfeng Warriors and spare parts for the unnamed African customer, likely Nigeria.
The Dongfeng CSK131 has got an armored hull that provides protection for the passengers against small arms fire and artillery shell splinters. This vehicle is sometimes seen with armored windscreen shutters. All-round protection is against 7.62×39 mm rounds from a 100m range. The front arc withstands hits from 7.62×39 mm armor-piercing rounds. The Dongfeng CSK131 can be seen as China’s equivalent of an armored Humvee.