WZ551 recovery, infantry fighting vehicle, and fire support variants in the demonstration that the BIR performed for the vice-president on 19 October. (Partido Democrático de Guinea Ecuatorial)
Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, Equatorial Guinea's vice-president and heir apparent to his father, announced on 19 October that the new Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR) has completed its training.
“Equatorial Guinea now has a Rapid Intervention Brigade,” Nguema wrote in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter). “Today I presided over the closing ceremony of the first promotion of this elite force that I launched in 2019. This batch has 684 personnel trained in six specialties.
“After seeing their effectiveness in field exercises, I have committed to providing them with more sophisticated equipment, including long-range missiles,” he added.
In a televised speech during the ceremony, Nguema said, “We are going to acquire more sophisticated materiel… We will also have long-range missiles, we are being serious. But the foundation has to be solid, we have to be the strongest military in the region. This is my ambition with the BIR, it is also the ambition of the head of state.”
He also thanked the team of Chinese military instructors that has been training the BIR.
The ceremony included a demonstration of the Chinese-made armoured vehicles that have been acquired for the BIR, which include the armoured personnel carrier, infantry fighting vehicle, self-propelled gun, mortar carrier, command, and recovery variants of the WZ551 6Ă—6 armoured vehicle.
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