The U.S. Department of Defense is urging the Portuguese government to send to Ukraine a batch of its M113 APCs to Ukraine, Matt Carlson reports in Outdoor Enthusiast Magazine, meaning the vehicles that served in the National Army for about 30 years at the Santa Margarita Army Camp.
The Portuguese government has been delaying its response to Washington’s request following a NATO meeting at the US military base in Ramstein, Germany, to discuss assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Portuguese authorities have already ordered GNR to make available to Ukraine four of its Iveco M 40.12 WM/P 4×4 armored vehicles, which the security forces adapted and upgraded when they intervened as part of police stabilization in Iraq.
In the U.S. too, hundreds of M113s are being shipped to Ukraine, taken from National Guard stocks and Army surplus. Last April, U.S. soldiers assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division prepared the shipment of M113 Armored Personnel Carriers onto truck trailers at Fort Stewart, Georgia, on April 21, 2022. The 3rd ID divested the armored vehicles to support the Presidential Response requirements for the European Theater of Operations for the purpose of providing immediate military assistance to Ukraine. The pictures released by the U.S. Department of Defense will provide different variants of the M113 armored vehicle including ambulance versions.