Philippines seeks armoured excavators, activates new tank and artillery units
Combat engineers of the Philippine Army are seeking new armoured excavators akin to this HMEE of the New Zealand Army. (Photo: Gordon Arthur)
New armoured excavators are needed for the Philippine Army, while new tank, artillery and air defence units have also been set up in the Philippines.
The Philippine Army opened a tender process on 20 June to obtain armoured excavators for its combat engineers.
Just four vehicles are being sought, with a budget cap of PHP480 million ($8.58 million).
There are limited armoured excavator contenders available. One of the most popular worldwide is the High Mobility Engineering Excavator (HMEE) from JCB, while one other contender is likely to be Turkish firm Cukurova Defence.
Quite a mouthful, this has been dubbed the Combat Engineering Equipment Lot 8 – Armoured Backhoe Loader/Excavator Acquisition Project. In Philippine parlance, it was previously referred to as the High Mobility Engineering Excavator Project.
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