Navistar to upgrade MRAPs for the UAE

Navistar Defense will refurbish and upgrade Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles for the United Arab Emirates for $60.9 million, the Defense Department announced Friday.

The Mississippi-based company will refurbish and upgrade MaxxPro MRAPs for the United Arab Emirates with a completion date of July 1, 2025, with the work being performed in West Point, MS, the announcement reads.

First fielded in 2007, the MaxxPro MRAP is a 4-by-4-wheel drive vehicle designed to provide troops with “protected mobility” from mines, improvised explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenades, according to the Army’s Acquisition Center.

With a crew of three and seating seven passengers, the vehicle can also function as a weapons carrier, convoy protection vehicle, leader vehicle, command post and armored ambulance.

It can also be armed with various weapons, with the most common being a .50 caliber machine gun.

The Army and Marine Corps ordered the MaxxPro from Navistar through an urgent operational need procurement during the Iraq War.

Since its initial fielding in 2007, the vehicle went through numerous mechanical and armor upgrades.

Along with the U.S., 23 other nations operate the vehicle.