On 11 April 2024, the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) delivered two modernized BPz2 Recovery Vehicles to the Lithuanian Armed Forces, expanding the fleet to four modernized Bergepanzer 2 (BPz2). The Agency successfully managed the BPz2 Programme modernization. This has enabled the Lithuanian Armed Forces to significantly expand their field capabilities to support the PzH2000 operation, by providing a modern and effective solution to cover a recurrent gap in the operation scenarios. This new solution provides recovery and field support capabilities for vehicles in the weight class that exceeds 50 t.
The basic BPz2 Recovery Vehicles received several upgrades with a focus on performance, mobility, weight and craning equipment. The mandate entrusted to NSPA consisted of the production of four modernized vehicles and the establishment of a logistical infrastructure, with all the targeted achievements obtained within the set schedule. This positive achievement is the result of very strong synergetic experience, competence and dedication of all the NSPA Air and Land Combat Programme team, and the supporting services involved in the project. Subsequently, NSPA successfully managed the entire programme upgrades while keeping the costs within the established budgetary requirements.
The Bergepanzer 2 is an armored recovery vehicle based on the Leopard 1 main battle tank, developed in the 1960s and manufactured by Atlas-MaK Maschinenbau for the West German army and replaced the earlier Bergepanzer 1. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and other countries. The Leopard 1 was designed from the outset as a family of vehicles. This was intended to significantly reduce the cost of operating, maintaining and repairing the tracked vehicles, since the personnel for many areas only required one-off training and the assemblies could be easily replaced. FFG offers the Bergepanzer 2 in 3 different variants, the WiSENT 1 ARV, the WiSENT 1 AEV and the WiSENT 1 Mine Clearing
The German company FFG GmbH (Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft mbH) contributed with their extensive experience in the area of recovery vehicles. FFG personnel focused their efforts in fulfilling the technical requirement, and in the continuous tailoring of the final product according to user needs. FFG GmbH is a medium-sized company based in Flensburg, Germany. The FFGs key areas of operations include maintenance, overhaul and production of tracked and wheeled vehicles domestically and internationally. In addition to the production of aluminium CNC-milled parts the FFG is competent and certified in all forms of welding and hydraulic engineering.
