According to Greek resources, the United States and Greece have concluded an intergovernmental agreement (in the form of an exchange of Letters of Offer and Acceptance - LOA) on the transfer of 1,200 M1117 ASV Guardian (4x4) wheeled armored vehicles from the US Department of Defense to Greece through the US program of intergovernmental foreign military sales (FMS).
US Army M1117 ASV Guardian Armored Vehicle (c) US Department of Defense
A preliminary agreement to transfer 1,200 M1117 ASV Guardian wheeled armored vehicles from the US Army to Greece was concluded in 2019. Then the start of deliveries of the first batch of 800 M1117 vehicles to Greece was expected first in March 2020, then in the fall of 2020, but in the end, the final agreement was agreed only now and deliveries will begin in 2021.
The delivery of M1117 armored vehicles to Greece will be made free of charge under the US Department of Defense's Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program for the sale of excess military equipment, while the Greek side, in accordance with accepted practice, pays for the deconservation, repair, training, retrofitting and transportation of equipment, as well as the training of personnel.
The 14-ton armored vehicle M1117 Guardian (Armored Security Vehicle - ASV 150), produced by Textron Corporation, with a 4x4 wheel formula, which is a development of the famous Commando armored personnel carrier, was originally developed for the American military police, but in the 2000s was actively purchased by the US Army as a kind of" light Ersatz MRAP " for use in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of HMMWV cars. In total, the US Army purchased 2,058 units plus 844 M1200 advanced aircraft manufacturers based on them. To date, the main part of the M1117 machines as redundant has been transferred to storage and should now be transferred to Greece.
Recall that in 2020, a similar agreement was also reached on the transfer of 350 M2A2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles to Greece from the presence of the US Army and the National Guard under the EDA program through the FMS mechanism.
In July 2020, Colombia entered into an agreement to purchase 147 M1117 Guardian ASV armored vehicles from the US Department of Defense under the EDA program. It was reported that their delivery to Colombia was supposed to be made in November-December 2020, but so far there is no information about this.
