US donates 10 Mercedes Atego trucks to Niger army.

The U.S. Government has donated ten 4×4 Mercedes Atego troop transport trucks to the Nigerien army, AfricanMilitaryBlog reports. It has also provided a logistics warehouse as part of the donation. The donation which was delivered on May 27 will be used under the G5 Sahel Joint Force, in combating terrorism in the region.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

The U.S. Government has donated ten 4×4 Mercedes Atego troop transport trucks to the Nigerien army (Picture source: AfricanMilitaryBlog)

U.S. Ambassador Eric Whitaker attended the handing over ceremony which took place at the Direction Centrale du Matériel, in Niger. He mentioned that the ten trucks are worth up to $1 million. Issoufou Katambé, Niger’s Minister of National Defense, and senior military officials were present during the handover. A logistics warehouse valued at $430 000 was also donated to safely store essential spare parts for Niger’s combat vehicles.

The Mercedes-Benz Atego is a range of general-purpose rigid trucks introduced by Mercedes-Benz in 1998. A new model was introduced in 2004, followed by a facelift in 2010 and another new model in 2013. The latest version is available in gross vehicle weights of 6.5 to 16 metric tonnes and is powered by a straight 4- or 6-cylinder engine. Atego trucks can transport up to fifteen soldiers.

The second batch of vehicles donated by the USA - which comprised of 13 Mamba APCs - was also delivered on December 5, 2019, for a total value of $21 million. The United States had also previously donated a Command and Control (C2) center valued at $16.5 million. Since 2013, Niger has also received four Cessna 208 Caravan aircraft, with two configured for surveillance.