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The Kuwaiti armed forces have been found to be using Israeli military technology, despite the Arab country not recognising the Jewish state and imposing a decades-long trade embargo.
Several Kuwaiti National Guard vehicles appear to have been outfitted with Israeli-made optical sensors, which Shephard saw first-hand at a recent defence industry exhibition held in Kuwait City in December.
The technology, which is fitted to the turret of the National Guard’s Pandur armoured vehicles, is known as the Multi Threat Detection System (MTDS) and warns the vehicle crew if they are being targeted by anti-tank weapons on the ground or laser-guided bombs from aircraft.
A spokesperson from Israeli company Elbit Systems confirmed that the sensor photographed on the turret of the Kuwait National Guard vehicle was its MTDS product.
However, the spokesperson stressed that Elbit Systems had not sold the sensor to any Middle Eastern countries and that it was a ‘baseline off the shelf item’ that had been sold to vehicle manufacturers worldwide.
The Pandur vehicles operated by the Kuwait National Guard were built by General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS)-Steyr, a Vienna-based subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation. The sensor appears on the infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) variant of the Pandur, which is outfitted with a 25mm cannon.
The National Guard use the highly-protected Pandur for internal security missions and border protection.
The Israeli technology is fitted to the guard’s newer batch of Pandur 6x6 vehicles, which were acquired around the 2013/14 timeframe and built at GDELS-Steyr facility in Simmering, Austria, which has since closed.
It is not known how many IFV variants the Kuwaitis operate.
Photos taken in March 2014 show Kuwaiti soldiers training on the new Pandur vehicles, including an IFV platform with the Israeli MTDS already present. This suggests that the Kuwaitis received the vehicles with the technology already installed and were not fitted to the vehicles after delivery.
GDELS-Steyr did not provide comment when requested.
One Austrian defence source told Shephard that a similar sensor is also utilised by the Portugese and Czech armies on their locally-manufactured Pandur II vehicles. The Austrian Army has also acquired the MTDS to outfit its new observation and reconnaissance vehicles, based on the Iveco LMV.
It is unusual that the Kuwaitis have gone nearly four years without knowing that they are using Israeli technology, especially as equipment usually comes with training and maintenance manuals from the original supplier.
One Kuwaiti soldier working with the Pandur told Shephard in December that several items on the vehicle cannot be repaired by Kuwaiti crews and must be handed over to GDELS-Steyr contractors. This may explain how the equipment could have gone unnoticed for nearly four years, although it is not known for certain whether the MTDS is one of those items.
Nevertheless, the revelation will be a significant embarrassment for Kuwait, which, like most states in the Arab League, does not recognise Israel. Kuwait refuses entry to Israeli citizens and even non-citizens with an Israeli passport stamp.
The country’s national airline has made headlines in recent years for its policy of refusing to fly Israeli passengers, even if the final destination is not Kuwait.
Kuwait also has a strict zero-tolerance trade embargo with Israel, with possession of Israeli products reportedly banned under a 1960s-era law. In 2014, Kuwait’s Commerce Ministry launched an investigation into reports that Israeli potatoes were being sold in the country as part of cooperative societies.
The Kuwait Ministry of Defence did not respond to requests for comment.
https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/...i-military-technology-discovered-kuwait-desp/
Several Kuwaiti National Guard vehicles appear to have been outfitted with Israeli-made optical sensors, which Shephard saw first-hand at a recent defence industry exhibition held in Kuwait City in December.
The technology, which is fitted to the turret of the National Guard’s Pandur armoured vehicles, is known as the Multi Threat Detection System (MTDS) and warns the vehicle crew if they are being targeted by anti-tank weapons on the ground or laser-guided bombs from aircraft.
A spokesperson from Israeli company Elbit Systems confirmed that the sensor photographed on the turret of the Kuwait National Guard vehicle was its MTDS product.
However, the spokesperson stressed that Elbit Systems had not sold the sensor to any Middle Eastern countries and that it was a ‘baseline off the shelf item’ that had been sold to vehicle manufacturers worldwide.
The Pandur vehicles operated by the Kuwait National Guard were built by General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS)-Steyr, a Vienna-based subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation. The sensor appears on the infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) variant of the Pandur, which is outfitted with a 25mm cannon.
The National Guard use the highly-protected Pandur for internal security missions and border protection.
The Israeli technology is fitted to the guard’s newer batch of Pandur 6x6 vehicles, which were acquired around the 2013/14 timeframe and built at GDELS-Steyr facility in Simmering, Austria, which has since closed.
It is not known how many IFV variants the Kuwaitis operate.
Photos taken in March 2014 show Kuwaiti soldiers training on the new Pandur vehicles, including an IFV platform with the Israeli MTDS already present. This suggests that the Kuwaitis received the vehicles with the technology already installed and were not fitted to the vehicles after delivery.
GDELS-Steyr did not provide comment when requested.
One Austrian defence source told Shephard that a similar sensor is also utilised by the Portugese and Czech armies on their locally-manufactured Pandur II vehicles. The Austrian Army has also acquired the MTDS to outfit its new observation and reconnaissance vehicles, based on the Iveco LMV.
It is unusual that the Kuwaitis have gone nearly four years without knowing that they are using Israeli technology, especially as equipment usually comes with training and maintenance manuals from the original supplier.
One Kuwaiti soldier working with the Pandur told Shephard in December that several items on the vehicle cannot be repaired by Kuwaiti crews and must be handed over to GDELS-Steyr contractors. This may explain how the equipment could have gone unnoticed for nearly four years, although it is not known for certain whether the MTDS is one of those items.
Nevertheless, the revelation will be a significant embarrassment for Kuwait, which, like most states in the Arab League, does not recognise Israel. Kuwait refuses entry to Israeli citizens and even non-citizens with an Israeli passport stamp.
The country’s national airline has made headlines in recent years for its policy of refusing to fly Israeli passengers, even if the final destination is not Kuwait.
Kuwait also has a strict zero-tolerance trade embargo with Israel, with possession of Israeli products reportedly banned under a 1960s-era law. In 2014, Kuwait’s Commerce Ministry launched an investigation into reports that Israeli potatoes were being sold in the country as part of cooperative societies.
The Kuwait Ministry of Defence did not respond to requests for comment.
https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/...i-military-technology-discovered-kuwait-desp/
