Posted On Tuesday, 01 March 2022 14:30
According to Luxembourg Times echoed by Ukraine form on February 28, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg will send anti-tank weapons, vehicles and other supplies to Ukraine.
Light Anti-tank Weapon (MBT LAW), also known as the NLAW (Picture source: Wikipedia)
Faced with the urgency and the deterioration of the situation on the ground, the government of Luxembourg did not hesitate to show solidarity and to make these means available in order to support the Ukrainian army in the fight against the Russian invader," Luxembourg Defence Minister Francois Bausch said in a statement. According to this statement, Luxembourg's army will ship 100 light anti-tank weapons to the Ukrainian army along with four-wheel-drive vehicles and 15 military tents.
No further technical detail is given concerning these weapons and 4x4 vehicles but the first ones must be NLAW systems, as they are the only ones the Luxembourg army can offer without depriving its own army of organic armament.
NLAW
The Main Battle Tank and Light Anti-tank Weapon (MBT LAW), also known as the NLAW, is a joint Swedish and British short-range fire-and-forget anti-tank missile system. Designed for use by infantry, the MBT LAW is shoulder-fired and disposable, firing once before being disposed of. It is currently in use with the military forces of the United Kingdom, Finland, Luxembourg, Ukraine, and Sweden, among others.
KMW Dingo 2 of the Luxembourg Army (Picture source: Army Recognition)
KMW Dingo 2 and AM General M1114 HUMVEE
Regarding its 4x4 vehicles, the Luxembourg army is equipped with KMW Dingo 2 armored vehicles and M1114 Humvees. One may assume that the 4x4 vehicles Luxembourg is ready to donate to Ukraine are HUMVEES, not Dingo 2s (48 currently in service), as these are indispensable to the army and require an important logistical support system, as well as training for their use. Humvees, on the contrary, are easy to operate and maintain, also at a lower cost. The Luxembourg army operates 42 of them. The most used HMMWV in the Luxembourg army is the M1114 equipped with an over-armor kit and a turret on which is fixed a .50 machine gun.
The ATF Dingo is a heavily armored military MRAP infantry mobility vehicle based on a Mercedes Unimog chassis with a V-hull design, produced by the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW). The first prototype of the Dingo 1 was completed in 1995 and the first production Dingo 1 entered service in 2000 with the German Army. It is designed to withstand land mines, rifle fire, artillery fragments and NBC threats. ATF stands for Allschutz-Transport-Fahrzeug, meaning all-protected transport vehicle in German. It is named after the Australian native dog, the dingo. The Dingo 2 entered service in late 2004 after undergoing trials from November 2003-May 2004. Currently, KMW is developing the Dingo 2 GFF for the German Army with an increased internal volume.
M1114 HMMWV of the Luxembourg Army (Picture source: Luxembourg Army)
