FNSS revealed its combat engineering variant of the Pars III 8×8 armoured vehicle, which was developed specifically to meet the requirements of Oman, at the 2019 IDEF exhibition.
The vehicle is undergoing qualification tests for Oman and is expected to complete all testing by mid-2019, at which point deliveries are expected to commence.
The contract with Oman covers delivery of 172 Pars III vehicles in 13 configurations. Of those vehicles, 145 will be based on the 8×8, and the remaining 27 on the 6×6 variants.
The contract for the combat engineering variant covers eight vehicles. It is designed to perform a number of combat engineering operations including mine clearance, obstacle clearance, obstacle creation, and constructing bases and defences. It is crewed by a driver/operator, commander, gunner, and four dismounts. The vehicle is based on the standard 8×8 Pars III.
FNSS has worked in collaboration with UK-based Pearson Engineering to develop and integrate mission-specific equipment onto the vehicle, which is designed to be rapidly dismounted and swapped for other systems as the situation dictates.
The individual elements of the Surface Clearing Blade are visible here, as is the Pearson Universal Connection Kit. (IHS Markit/Sam Cranny-Evans)
The engineering functionality is provided by a Pearson Universal Connection Kit (Jettison Kit) that is fitted to the front of the vehicle. The Jettison Kit employs existing Pearson technology to enable the rapid changing of attachments, but is customised to fit the Pars III. Gökhan Tekin, Oman Pars III WAV programme manager, explained that the front attachment can be changed in five minutes by a single crew member – using the vehicle to move from attachment to attachment, and no specialist tools or crane are required. He added that this can be reduced to four minutes with two crew members.
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