LMT gets Gecko support work

4739

LMT Products, a business unit of Land Mobility Technologies, has been awarded a R219 298 contract to provide product service support to the LMT Gecko Airborne amphibious 8×8 light rapid deployment logistic vehicle. As far as can be determined, this is the first such work for industry since the system was introduced to the Parachute Regiment and Special Forces.

BAE Systems and Vyfster Werkswinkel in Bloemfontein did last September win an order worth

R855 266 for the supply of spares for both the Gecko and the Special Forces’ BAE Systems 4×4 Hornet Rapid Deployment Reconnaissance Vehicle. This was a follow-on to a R2 850 948 order in June last year for the repair and/or maintenance and supply of spares for “B-vehicles and related equipment.” It is not clear if these are a reference to the Gecko an Hornet. The South African military defines a “B-vehicle” as a “soft-skinned vehicle which is specially designed or modified for military use, or transformed for protection against mines”. A combat or “A-vehicle”, by contrast, is a “hard-skinned vehicle, a robust armoured vehicle which is developed to transport offensive weapons and personnel in combat.”

Some 112 Gecko’s were acquired under Project Ambition I. Crayford All Terrain Vehicles (Pty) Ltd won a contract for the vehicles in 2002 and delivery started in 2003. LMT of Pretoria designed and built a variety of trailers for the vehicle, the most important being a flatbed cargo carrier that can be fitted with a command and control (C2) “pod” and a separate design mounting a 106mm recoilless gun.

The C2 pod satisfies the needs of a battalion headquarters. Production of the vehicles was at Atlantis-based Agrid SA. The design was based on the automotive components of the Argo Centaur 8×8 built by Ontario Drive & Gear in Canada. The top structure was redesigned and the hull reinforced. The Gecko is fully amphibious after preparation, which includes fitting inflatable pontoons stored in the hull and inflated using the exhaust system.

Logistic support was developed to MIL-STD-1388-2B and DEF-STAN—0060 levels, but a source told the author in 2006 that only 30 of the platforms were in limited use because the SANDF had failed to purchase adequate logistic support with the acquisition. The bulk of the vehicles were then brand new and unused although their three-year warranties had expired. LMT took over responsibility for the entire programme and the Gecko`s through-life support in March 2005,as well as the intellectual property and international marketing rights.

Product support service provider for Gecko vehicles

EIVS/2010/152 20 Jan 2011 R219 298,00 LMT Products (Pty) Ltd Brooklyn

Supply of GECKO and HORNET spares – extension of EIVS/2009/522

IVS/S2010/1156 2 Sep 2010 R855 266,00 BAE Systems t/a Land Systems OMC

Vyfster Werkswinkel Bk Bloemfontein

Repair/maintenance and supply of spares for B-vehicles and related equipment

ESPV/2009/522 3 Jun 2010 R2 850 948,00 BAE Systems t/a Land Systems OMC

Vyfster Werkswinkel Bk Bloemfontein