Seán Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for Defence when the fifteen additional Mowag Piranha APCs will come into service; the costs involved; if these will be configured differently to the existing APCs; the location where these will be deployed; if the contract will be executed on time and on budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8529/07]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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In December 2005, a contract was signed with Mowag for the supply, in 2007, of fifteen (15) Piranha Armoured Vehicles with a different configuration to previously delivered APCs.

Nine (9) of the fifteen vehicles will be fitted with a Kongsberg Remote Weapon Station with a 12.7mm machine gun and six (6) will be fitted with an Oto Melara turret armed with a 30mm cannon. The contract value is in the region of €36.5m including VAT with payments spread over the period 2005 to 2008. The 15 vehicles will be used mainly in the Surveillance and Reconnaissance roles on overseas missions.

Previous troop carrier variants of the Mowag APCs were fitted with a Helio UK (now Thales) one-man turret fitted with a 0.5" (12.7mm) heavy machine gun and a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun. The main role of these Mowags is force protection on overseas missions and the vehicles have proved a great success in overseas missions in Eritrea, Liberia, Kosovo and now Lebanon.