In the premises of the Land Force in Zall Herr was held the ceremony of handing over of the first 6 armored vehicles donated by the US government worth 300 thousand dollars. Parts of the armor vehicles package there are 248 vehicles worth 12 million dollars, where Albania will only pay the costs for transportation and maintenance of these vehicles. The Minister of Defense, Mimi Kodheli, Chief of General Staff of Armed Forces, Brigadier General Bardhyl Kollçaku and US Ambassador to Tirana, Donald Lu were present in this ceremony.
Minister Kodheli expressed her thanks and gratitude to the governments of the United States of America, which she described as "a strategic ally and friend."
Dwelling upon the importance of cooperation between Albania and USA, Kodheli stressed that the history of our relations is stretched throughout our path towards Armed Forces reformation. "I cannot leave without emphasizing the fact that these relationships have entered a new and more qualitative phase, and at the same time I express my personal gratitude for the men and women in uniform for this unsparing assistance," she said.
Minister Kodheli praised the increased role of the second infantry battalion in NATO engagements and that these vehicles are more necessary than ever. "In raising AF standards, these vehicles are part of the armored package, a project we started together since 2015. This assistance comes absolutely at the right time when the Second Infantry Battalion is significantly increasing its commitments within the Alliance and this will have a qualitative impact on the fulfillment of obligations and capacity targets. "
The US Ambassador Donald Lu on the other side stressed Albania's role as a special United States ally on our continent and underlined the advantages that these vehicles represent. "You (Albania) are just one of the 4 NATO allies in Europe that get these advanced machines. The US government is committed to strengthening your capabilities as a NATO ally. This new capability will be a decisive step for the Albanian Armed Forces to achieve the primary objective of NATO to have a fully operational and autonomous up-to-date infantry group by 2019, "said Ambassador Lu, who congratulated the new Chief of Staff of Armed Forces, Brigadier General Bardhyl Kollçaku, and thanked Minister Kodheli for her years of dedicated service in support of AFRSH.
The transporting armored vehicles of the brand HMMËV 1114 and have a maximum speed of 125 km / h, a holding capacity of 1 + 3 + 1 riffle man, weigh 6 tons and have 443 km of moving autonomy. The armored vehicles are equipped with a system of holding heavy machine guns and light machine guns as well as grenade launchers.
