Greek army receives former US Army M1117 Guardian armored vehicles.

Greece has received an initial batch of 44 M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicles (ASV), the first of a two-part Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case that will ultimately see 1,200 vehicles delivered, MilitaryLeak reports. The vehicles are Excess Defense Articles and the Army uses FMS to facilitate divesture, while simultaneously building partner capacity.
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Greece has received an initial 44 batch of M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicles (ASV) (Picture source: U.S. State Department)

The Hellenic Armed Forces receive the vehicles at almost only the transportation costs. As the first vehicles come from a depot located in Europe, transportations costs are much lower than for the remaining vehicles that will be shipped from Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, California. The vehicles arriving from Germany are also in operational condition since storage at another location was not needed. “The 21st Theater Sustainment Command (in Germany) put the vehicles on a train and sent them to the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Greece where the transfer was initiated by the Office of Defense Cooperation,” Marcus Mackey, USASAC G-3 mission support for EDA, said.

For the U.S., transferring the vehicles directly from the 21st Theater Sustainment Command immediately divests the unit of older vehicles and facilitates modernization. Vehicles declared EDA are no longer part of the Army’s inventory. The Security Assistance Command executes Army FMS.

The ASV M1117 Guardian was designed and manufactured by the American company Textron Marine & Land Systems. The external modular expandable armor system of ceramic composite material provides ballistic protection for the crew, ammunition, fuel tanks, and storage areas against 12.7mm armor-piercing ammunition. It has a crew of four. The ASV's M1117 Guardian firepower consists of a one-person, non-stabilized, turreted primary weapons station with a mounted 40mm automatic grenade launcher (MK19 MOD 3) and a .50-caliber machine gun (M2/M48). The turret traverses 360° and allows for an elevation of 45°.

Greek and U.S. military personnel, along with Greece Minister of Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, participate in a Dec. 1 ceremony in Athens marking the delivery of the first 44 of 1,200 M117 Guardian Armored Safety Vehicles (Picture source: U.S. State Department)