ARMSCOR recruits Bell fleet for the SANDF

Bell Equipment is busy with the production of B25E Articulated Dump Trucks, B25E Water Tankers, B25E Diesel Tankers and 2806E Articulated Haulers procured by the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (ARMSCOR) for the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

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The machines form part of a Militarised Operational Earthmoving System (MOEMS) project. The project is divided into seven categories according to machine type and aims to equip the Engineering Corps of the SANDF with new generation militarised earthmoving equipment needed to perform operational earthmoving and construction tasks within South Africa and throughout the African continent.

Tasks include: the construction of high quality gravel roads, construction and maintenance of gravel runways, opening and maintenance of advance routes, the preparation of defensive positions during battlefield preparation, land preparation for generation construction sites, preparation of bridge abutments for river crossing operations, land rehabilitation during battlefield objective clearing, earthworks support during disaster relief operations, autonomous road construction operations complimentary to reconstruction and development projects as well as land detoxification in cases of chemical and explosives ordnance pollution.

In addition, Bell is also supplying Bomag BW211 Rollers, towed grid rollers and towed impact rollers.

Critical to the project is the delivery of a holistic system, which means that Bell will be delivering product manuals in the military standard as well as spare parts to enable the SANDF to provide their own machine support. An ADT simulator will be delivered and a complete training package will see Bell training SANDF instructors so that they, in turn, can train the machine operators.

A delegation of representatives from ARMSCOR and the SANDF visited the Bell factory in July where they were taken on a walk through the facility and given various technical presentations to get a solid understanding of South Africa's leading equipment manufacturer and the work that goes into designing and manufacturing its class leading E-series truck range.

During the visit, which also included an opportunity to drive in a Bell Truck on the company's test track, the delegation were able to see the first pre-assembly chassis and a few other components that have already been painted in the military specified paint.

This visit was followed up in August with a Conformance Inspection of the various ADT products at Bell Jet Park in Johannesburg.