Eurosatory

Gabon Orders Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Positioning System

By Pierre Tran

Jun 14, 2016

Gabon's soldiers stand in formation on January 1, 2013 in Libreville as 120 soldiers will travel to the Central African Republic to reinforce the Congolese contingent of the Central African Multinational Force (FOMAC). Rebels in the Central African Republic vowed on December 31, 2012 to take the last key town before the capital and renewed their call for the president to stand down, voicing scepticism over his pledge to make concessions. Rebel coalition Seleka, which has seized much of the country in a three-week advance to within 160 kilometres (100 miles) of the capital Bangui, said its renewed call for President Francois Bozize to leave power was in response to an advance by government troops toward rebel positions. AFP PHOTO/XAVIER BOURGEOIS (Photo credit should read XAVIER BOURGOIS/AFP/Getty Images)

PARIS — Gabon on Tuesday signed for a batch of orders that included a positioning system, unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) and mobile medical shelters, according to the French company Nexter.

The contracts were signed at the Eurosatory trade show, the land weapons business said in a statement. No financial details were given.

Among the contracts were the Findsat positioning system, Nerva LG UGVs reconnaissance mini-robots with a variety of mission kits, NX-100 UAVs from drone specialist Novadem and medical shelters from Euro-Shelter, a Nexter subsidiary, the company said.

The orders follow Congo's 2014 purchase of 12 Aravis armored vehicles armed with a remote-controlled 20mm gun, PG Guard protection system for vehicles and Nerva LG ground drones, the company said. That equipment is now deployed in the UN peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic.