NIZHNY TAGIL, September 11. /TASS/. The United Arab Emirates will receive several hundred Russian-made AU-220M combat modules for its domestically-produced infantry fighting vehicles, Uralvagonzavod Director General Oleg Siyenko told TASS on Friday.
"We have made progress, we have decided on the volume of delivery, and UAE leaders supervise the issue. They and we have a program [to fulfil]; I would not mention the number [of modules to be ordered], but it is hundreds," Siyenko said at the Russia Arms Expo 2015 show.
According to Siyenko, the contract paperwork has been completed, and now it is just the matter of time. "There is just the symbiosis: they have a chassis and we have a turret. The situation is ideal for them, because our naval gun has a range of 12 km, and long range matters much in desert," the manufacturer’s director general added.
The memorandum of understanding on mounting the AU-220M fighting module on Arab 8x8 armored vehicle Enigma was signed in February at the IDEX 2015 show in Abu Dhabi.
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According to Georgy Zakamennykh, director general of the Burevestnik research institute (a subsidiary of Uralvagonzavod), the Russian-UAE joint program on the AU-220M module is on schedule. The UAE is going to introduce minor changes to the design and equipment of the AU-220M. "There have been no radical changes, just minor modifications to the characteristics," Zakamennykh said, "in particular, those to the mating of the chassis and fighting module and to the location and composition of the sighting system, instruments and control panels."
He said the UAE had decided to retain the main armament of the module - a 57-mm gun. At the same time, the UAE requested the Au-220M be furnished with antitank missiles, after it had taken an interest in Russian-made AT missile systems, particularly, the Kornet-D.
The AU-220M is an upgraded variant of the A-220 naval gun designed by Burevestnik for both tracked and wheeled chasses. Its main armament is a 57-mm gun and an auxiliary weapon is a 7.62-mm machinegun.