The United States has officially transferred a dozen Puma M36 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) to Benin’s military after redirecting APCs originally destined for Niger.
US Ambassador to Benin Brian Shukan officially handed over the 12 APCs and other equipment to Benin’s military (FAB) during a ceremony on 27 November at the National Guard base in Dessa.
The US Embassy said the equipment is worth 3.7 billion CFA francs ($5.9 million) and includes ballistic body armour plates and L3Harris Falcon III radios.
“This material drop off is one of the most important in the history of the security partnership between the United States and Benin. It will increase the operational capacity of the FAB to protect the Beninese people, defend national borders and combat violent extremism,” the US Embassy said.
In November 2023, the US donated $2.1 million worth of individual equipment, such as boots, gloves, ballistic glasses and binoculars in the framework of the three-year Border Security Programme (BORSEC), which trains Beninese soldiers on border security tactics.
Thirty-eight Puma M36 vehicles were originally destined for Niger, but after Niger ended military cooperation with the United States and American forces withdrew from that country, the vehicles are now going to Benin, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire.
defenceWeb understands that Cote d’Ivoire will receive 12 Puma M36s and Ghana will be getting 14. These, and the Beninese models, are Puma M36 Mk 6 versions built by United Manufacturing Technologies (OTT-USA). As the vehicles are donated by the United States, they are required to have majority US content.
OTT-USA was established in 2016 and has proven performance of supplying B7 level armoured vehicles to the US Government for use by partner nations in hostile environments like Somalia. OTT-USA’s flagship vehicle is the Puma M36, which has had its ballistic and blast ratings certified by, among others, the US Army’s Test & Evaluation Command.
“OTT-USA enjoys reach-back support from its sister facilities in Pretoria, South Africa. Together, they are capable of engineering, design, prototyping, testing, manufacturing, servicing, and refurbishment of a range of armoured mobility solutions for military, law enforcement, and other specialty applications like cash-in-transit,” the company’s website states.
OTT has delivered some 600 Puma vehicles to more than a dozen customers across Africa, including peacekeeping contributors – over 200 vehicles were used by the African Union Mission in Somalia between 2012 and 2022 for example, while more than 250 vehicles were used by United Nations missions in Mali between 2014 and 2022.
Since 2019, more than 70 armoured vehicles have been built at OTT’s partner facility in the United States – the order for 38 Pumas from the US government was received in 2023.
The Puma M36 family of vehicles is available with various drive trains, suspensions and options, ranging from Ashok Leyland to Cummins and other transmission options.
