New vehicles Rev Up ANA capabilities.

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Story by Mass Communications Specialist 2^nd Class Cory Rose
NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan, Public Affairs Office

The Afghan National Army (ANA) will increase their capabilities as a fighting force with the addition of the Mobile Strike Force Vehicle (MSFV).

“These vehicles will give the ANA an armored capability that they can use as the coalition forces draw down,” said British Maj. Tim Jones, NATO Training Mission- Afghanistan, Deputy Commander- Army program manager for Mobile Strike Force.

Mobile Strike Force Vehicles (MSFV) will be a new part of the Afghan National Army. The vehicles will play an essential role in their fight against the enemy. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Cory Rose)

 MSFV’s will be disbursed throughout seven Kandaks (battalions); four located in Kabul with a brigade headquarters and three near Kandahar with a brigade headquarters. Each Kandak will receive 58 MSFV’s in a three-variant mix of 31 Armored Personnel Carriers with Turret, 24 Armored Personnel Carriers with Objective Gunners Protective Kit (OGPK) and three Armored Ambulances.

“MSFV’s have numerous capabilities which will really help us to improve our fighting such as; armor, and electronically fired weapons,” said ANA Sgt. Rohullah .

ANA soldiers will receive 18 weeks of training from Armored Branch School on the three different vehicle types. The first part is Operator New Equipment training and the Field Level Maintainer training. The second phase is a ten- week tactical training phase taught by French mentors followed by a six-week consolidation phase.  

“The goal for the Armored Branch School is have the Afghans all trained up to the point that by the start of training for the 7^th Kandak, the Afghans will be self sustained and training themselves,” said John B. Simpson III, program manager, Afghanistan Operations and Logistics for Textron Marine and Land Systems.

NTM-A is a coalition of 38 troop contributing nations assisting the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in generating a capable and sustainable Afghan National Security Force ready to take lead of their country’s security by 2014. For more information about NTM-A, visit www.ntm-a.com.

Tags: afghan national army, Afghan National Security Force, afghanistan, ANA, ansf, army, Feature, featured, ISAF, Kabul, logistics, nato, nato training mission, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan, NTM-A, soldier, training

Category: News - Afghan National Army, News - General