Nigerian Army inducts more Proforce Ara armoured vehicles into service.

The Nigerian Army has commissioned into service another batch of Ara armoured personnel carriers manufactured by Nigeria’s Proforce.

Official delivery of Ara APC (Picture source: Proforce)

The Nigerian Army took four vehicles into service on 1 August at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre located at Asokoro, Abuja.

The ceremony was attended by Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff General Gabriel Olonisakin and Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, who said the vehicles would be used to fight terrorism and insurgency. Proforce delivered a single Ara to the Nigerian Army for trials, and this was purchased in 2017. Another eight were ordered, which were delivered in 2018.

“This is the third consignment that we are receiving consisting of the four Ara vehicles and we still have five more to be delivered soon as part of 2019 procurement,” Buratai said. “We have about 20 of this type of vehicles, although not of this standard but they have very good resistance and protection.

By the end of this month, we will also display them.” The Nigerian Army received five Aras at the beginning of March this year, three several weeks ago and another five at the beginning of July. These have been deployed to the country’s northeast to fight Boko Haram insurgents.

The latest version of the Ara was displayed during the Nigerian Army Day celebrations on 6 July. It features a monocoque hull (the previous Ara used a Tatra 2.30 TRK 4×4 truck chassis).

Development of the improved version began in January 2018 after feedback from the Nigerian military. With the capacity to carry up to 12 personnel plus equipment, the 15-ton Ara 2 can be configured into multiple variants including recovery, command and control, ambulance, field kitchen and reconnaissance. A 12.7 mm machine gun can be mounted on a roof turret which can be open or fully enclosed.

In addition to Nigeria, Proforce has sold the Ara to Chad, which finalised a contract for 20 units in June this year.