MOWAG

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MOWAG is a Swiss company which develops, designs and produces armoured vehicles for military applications in both land-only and amphibious configurations. These range in the 7t to 25t gross vehicle weight. More than 12,000 armoured wheeled vehicles of the type PIRANHA, EAGLE and DURO are in operation worldwide with a large number of armed forces.

Contents 1 History 2 Current Products 2.1 Mowag Piranha 2.2 Mowag Eagle 2.3 Duro tactical trucks 3 Former Products 4 Address 5 External links

[edit] History

MOWAG, originally Mowag Motorwagenfabrik AG, was founded in 1950 as a privately owned company by Engineer Walter Ruf. During the past 50 years MOWAG has concentrated on the development and production of specialised vehicles.

Its initial success was the development and production of more than 1600 troop carriers "MOWAG 4x4" for the Swiss Army. Contracts for Germany followed, with 750 MOWAG MR series armoured wheeled vehicles produced for the German Federal Border Guard (also later used by Spain), and built under licence in Germany. Further high-powered wheeled and tracked vehicle series were developed and manufactured for the world markets.

Since October 2003, MOWAG is a company within the General Dynamics European Land Combat Systems group and at present employs around 500 highly-skilled personnel at the facility in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. MOWAG continues to operate as a Swiss company, and is organised and incorporated under Swiss law. General Dynamics European Land Combat Systems is part of General Dynamics Corporation (GD).

[edit] Current Products

MOWAG's products are leaders with numerous forces, such as the US Army (Stryker), US Marine Corps (LAV 25), Canadian Army, Swiss Army as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Malaysia and some countries in the Middle East, Africa and South America. In addition to production in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, London, Ontario, Canada and the USA, MOWAG vehicles are also built under licence by companies in other countries.

PIRANHA, EAGLE and DURO vehicles are successfully deployed in numerous operations around the world and are combat proven in a wide range of missions, terrains and climatic conditions. Service life extension and re-role programs for PIRANHA vehicles some fielded as early as in the seventies of e.g. US Marine Corps, Canadian and Swiss Forces are currently underway which will allow to extend the service life by many years to come.

[edit] Mowag Piranha

Since the PIRANHA 4x4, 6x6, 8x8 and 10x10 family of armoured wheeled vehicles was conceived in the seventies, over 6,500 vehicles have been produced and are today in operation. A further 1,700 PIRANHA vehicles are now selected, on order and under production in Canada, the USA and Switzerland. The baseline vehicle, the new generation of the PIRANHA III enables numerous applications and / or weapon system installations as expected of a modern multi-role vehicle, which is well suited to any battlefield or peace-keeping / peace-enforcing mission anywhere in the world. The PIRANHA IV 8x8 offers again higher payloads, modular ballistic protection, superior mine protection and provides increased mobility with its height-adjustable hydro-pneumatic suspension system. The US Stryker vehicle is a modified PIRANHA design as is the Canadian LAV III.

[edit] Mowag Eagle

The MOWAG Eagle is a Swiss armoured version of the American HMMWV total of 365 EAGLE 4x4 reconnaissance vehicles and 120 EAGLE 4x4 artillery forward observation vehicles have been built in the past eight years and are in service with the Swiss and Danish Forces. With the newly developed EAGLE IV MOWAG, based on the Duro, and is suitable as reconnaissance, communications and observation vehicle as well as for UN missions and border patrol. The MOWAG development on the basis of the proven DURO chassis is distinguished through a very high payload versus a low GVW, with a high ballistic and mine protection level as well as exceptional mobility both on and off-road. Due to the communality with the DURO family of vehicles, the maintenance and training costs can be kept low in a fleet mission.

[edit] Duro tactical trucks

DURO 4X4 AND 6X6 VEHICLES. Duro stands for DUrable and RObust. Initially developed for Switzerland by Bucher-Guyer AG in Niederwenningen, Switzerland, who started production of all-wheel-drive trucks in 1976. A initial 3.000 vehicle order for the Swiss armed forces came through in 1994. The rights to the DURO to the General Dynamics owned Mowag company in 2002. Over 4,000 DURO 4x4 and 6x6 vehicles are now in service worldwide. Main customers are Switzerland, Germany, Venezuela, Great Britain and Malaysia. In addition to these, the vehicle is used in many other countries for special purposes. Germany has ordered the DURO IIIP 6x6 ballistic and mine protected version. The latest versions are the DURO II and Duro III which offer the latest technology, outstanding payload and mobility are now available.

[edit] Former Products

From the beginning MOWAG produced both armoured and unarmoured vehicles, to include motorcycles and fire appliances.

• MOWAG MR
• Mowag Grenadier wheeled armored personnel carrier
• Mowag Roland wheeled APC
• Mowag Shark wheeled combat vehicle
• Mowag Spy wheeled light reconnaissance vehicle
• Mowag Tornado infantry fighting vehicle*

[edit] Address

MOWAG GmbH Unterseestrasse 65 8280 Kreuzlingen Switzerland Tel: +41 71 677 55 00 Fax: +41 71 672 28 86 Email: info@mowag.ch

[edit] External links

• Official link

v • d • e General Dynamics Corporation
Corporate Directors: Nicholas Chabraja | James Crown | Lester Crown | William Fricks | Charles Goodman | Jay Johnson | George Joulwan | Paul Kaminski | John Keane | Lester Lyles | Carl Mundy | Robert Walmsley
Subsidiaries: Bath Iron Works | Electric Boat | Land Systems | Gulfstream | NASSCO | MOWAG Products: Arleigh Burke class destroyer | Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle | Los Angeles class submarine | M1 Abrams | Ohio class submarine | Seawolf class submarine | Stryker
Annual Revenue: $19.4 billion USD (23% FY 2004) | Employees: 81,900 | Stock Symbol: NYSE: GD | Website: www.gendyn.com