The NZ Ministry of Defence has awarded a contract to Supacat to deliver Special Operations Vehicles – Mobility Heavy (SOV-MH) for the NZ Defence Forces.
Supacat is also in the process of agreeing a long term support contract with the NZDF to support the new fleet. The new SOV-MH vehicles are based on the latest MkII version of Supacat’s HMT Extenda and provide a high level of commonality with the equivalent vehicles with other Special Forces. In 2014 Australia awarded a $105 million contract to Supacat to deliver 89 Special Operations Vehicles – Commando (SOV-Cdo) for the Australian Defence Forces under the JP2097 Ph 1B (REDFIN) program. They were also based on the MkII HMT Extenda vehicle.
The program will commence vehicle deliveries in the final quarter of 2017. SC Group CEO, Nick Ames, said “Interoperability is an important element for the Special Forces community and commonality of spares and support, is a key driver in maintaining relatively small fleets.”
The HMT Extenda is unique in being convertible to either a 4×4 or 6×6 configuration to meet different operational requirements. Its open architecture provides for various levels of protection and great variety in the roles and missions for which it can be configured.
The SOV-MH vehicles will be manufactured at Supacat’s existing assembly facilities in Australia using Supacat Team Australia members to manufacture and assemble the vehicle. This represents the first time that Supacat Team Australia members will be exporting completed vehicles and complements the opportunities already emerging for Australian suppliers to enter Supacat’s global supply chains.