Britain purchased 46 M113A1-B for Ukraine

A large batch of M113A1-B armored personnel carriers belonging to a Belgian company was handed over to Ukraine.

Freddie Versluys, Head of the Belgian defense company OIP Land Systems, shared that Great Britain purchased 46 M113A1-B armored personnel carriers from them.

The armored vehicles were later shipped to Ukraine as part of a defense aid package from the United Kingdom.

The Belgian OIP Land Systems possessed the M113A1-B version of the armored personnel carriers, which were already spotted with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Great Britain also bought 20 Belgian M109A4BE self-propelled howitzers from a private arms company. They underwent repairs before being shipped to Ukraine.

Last year, the Belgian government allegedly tried to buy the same howitzers – also for the needs of Ukraine.

However, their cost turned out to be too high. OIP then demanded the M109s to be purchased for more than ten times the price at which they had once been sold.

Belgian M109

In 2008, the Belgian army decommissioned 64 units of 155-mm M109A4BE self-propelled howitzers.

In 2015, some of them were sold to Flanders Technical Supply (FTS), a private company that specializes in buying and selling military surplus around the world. The contract did not provide for a buyout.

Self-propelled howitzers were also purchased by the Belgian OIP Land Systems.

It did not plan to sell them too cheaply.

However, at the beginning of June, Ludivine Dedonder, Minister of Defense of Belgium, reported that the former 155-mm M109 self-propelled howitzers of the Belgian army were sold to Ukraine by a private company, but the official buyer was not disclosed. The price was also not made public.