CSA will make Iveco Defense for Ghana (thanks to the loan from Israel)
Iveco has signed a contract between the government of Ghana and Elbit Systems Ltd of Haifa for the supply of 11 VBTP-MR Guaranì 6 × 6 armored vehicles. The article by Giuseppe Gagliano
Iveco Defense Vehicle (also Iveco DV) is controlled by the Italian-American industrial and financial holding company CNH Industrial which has its registered office in Amsterdam. It was established at the end of 2012 thanks to the merger between CNH Global and the Fiat group of Turin. Among the factories, in addition to those in Bolzano, Piacenza and Vittorio Veneto, Iveco owns one in Brazil, in Minas Gerais, which has been operational since 2013.
Well, Iveco has signed a contract between the government of Ghana and Elbit Systems Ltd of Haifa for the supply of 11 VBTP-MR Guaranì 6 × 6 armored vehicles that will be produced at the Sete Lagoas plant (Minas Gerais, Brazil). This supply is part of a synergy of cooperation between the Iveco group and the Brazilian Army aimed at producing over 2,000 war vehicles for a total value of 2.5 billion euros.
The armored car, which weighs 18 tons, is used for amphibious combat operations. It is 7 meters long, 2.7 meters wide and 2.3 meters high and the Iveco-FPT engine allows a maximum speed of 100 km / h to be reached.
As for Ghana and relations with Israel, the acquisition of the armored vehicles was approved by the parliament of Ghana in October 2020 thanks to the stipulation of a loan of 86.1 million dollars with the Israel Discount Bank, insured by Israeli Foreign Trade Risks Insurance Corporation.
What is the purpose of Ghana for a purchase of this nature?
As the president of the Finance Commission, Mark Assibey Yeboah, argued, the Ghanaian army needed to equip itself with new armored vehicles in order to counter potential threats from Islamic-radical groups and to suppress any anti-government street demonstrations.
Regardless of the fact that Italy – like Israel – through Iveco, wants to protect the rights of the opposition (said in an ironic sense of course), and from the fact that it sees Israel playing a determined role, it is undoubtedly ironic that the weapons that come sold by democratic countries in Africa always serve to counter the terrorist danger.
Let us hope, however, that the epilogue is not like the Afghan one.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/csa-fara-iveco-defence-per-il-ghana-grazie-al-prestito-di-israele/ on Fri, 27 Aug 2021 10:23:01 +0000.