New Euro multi-purpose armoured vehicle

A European consortium involving British, French and German manufacturers is to build a new multi-purpose armoured vehicle for their three armies.

The eight-wheeled multi-role armoured vehicle or MRAV, to be built by Eurokonsortium, will have a much higher level of armour protection than those they replace, but will be able to keep pace with armoured formations.

The first vehicles, of an initial order of some six hundred, will come off the production line in 2005.

Other European countries have expressed interest in the project.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service