The UAE has placed an order for 750 all-terrain blast-resistant vehicles with the Oshkosh Corporation, the company said yesterday.
The contract covers the supply of mine-resistant ambush protected all terrain vehicles (M-ATVs), said the truck maker, based in Wisconsin. The order allows for additional vehicles to be delivered if required.
The trucks are already widely deployed by the US military in Afghanistan and are among the successors to the Humvee - the warhorse of American military transport since its introduction in 1985.
"The Oshkosh M-ATVs will enhance the UAE's ground operations by providing greater off-road mobility and crew protection to support national security," the company said in a regulatory filing.
The vehicles are expected to be delivered to the UAE between January and August next year. The company did not disclose the value of the order.
"The UAE continues to expand its role, in partnership with its allies including the United States, in regional security and peacekeeping operations," said John Urias, the executive vice president of Oshkosh.
The company said it had received orders for more than 9,500 M-ATVs in total. The US defence department has spent some US$45 billion (Dh165.28bn) on blast-resistant trucks over the past decade.
The US military plans to buy 55,500 joint light tactical vehicles, most of which would go to the army, Bloomberg reported last week.
A recent study found military expenditure in the Middle East and North Africa region topped $91bn in 2010.
Saudi Arabia accounted for half of that at $45.2bn with the UAE spending $16.1bn, or 17 per cent of the total.
Between 2005 and 2010, the UAE was among the most active buyers of arms in the international market, making 35 per cent of all purchases of major conventional weapons in the region, according to research from Al Masah Capital Management in Dubai.