France’s Arquus has received a contract to supply five Bastion 4×4 armoured vehicles to the Carabineros de Chile (the country’s national gendarmerie), the company announced on 29 February 2024.
The contract, which was actually signed on 28 December 2023 and the value of which was not disclosed, will see Arquus deliver the vehicles this year. Production work on the Chilean Bastions has already begun at the Arquus Limoges New Vehicle Production Center of Excellence.
“The arrival of the Bastion in the Chilean police force is a major asset for the modernisation of their fleet and the improvement of their operational capabilities,” the company stated in a press release.
The Arquus Bastion is effectively a modular range of 12.5-tonne armoured vehicles, the chassis of which was developed from the 4×4 base of the company’s family of VLRA light tactical vehicles.
Designed to offer a combination of tactical performance, robustness and simplified maintenance, the Bastion carries a crew of two plus eight dismounts. Powered since 2020 by a four-cylinder engine offering 270 hp, the Bastion has a maximum speed of 110 km/h, can negotiate gradients of 50% and side slopes of 30%, can cross 0.8 m trenches and climb 0.4 m vertical obstacles, and can ford to water depths of 1 m.
The Bastions will not be the first Arquus vehicles in Chile; in 2009 Panhard (which combined with Renault Trucks Defense and ACMAT to form Arquus) delivered 15 Petit Véhicule Protégé (PVP) light protected vehicles to the Chilean marines and police, while in 2014 Arquus delivered an assault ladder variant of its Sherpa 4×4 light tactical vehicle.
