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| A white refurbished U.S. Army truck stands by an unrefurbished truck. |
In a gesture of regional friendship, U.S. Army forces in the Pacific Theater have donated 1,059 military trucks to the armed forces and demining agencies of four Asia-Pacific nations. The M35A2 trucks are military 2 1/2 ton vehicles recently declared excess by U.S. Army units based in Japan and Korea. The trucks are being given to Cambodia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. First priority was given to those trucks destined for use in national demining programs. The first trucks were provided in November 1999 and an initial shipment to Sri Lanka took place in July 2000.
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Donated refurbished U.S. Army M35A2 2.5-ton trucks are offloaded in Thailand for use by the Royal Thai Army. |
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The trucks were completely refurbished by the U.S. government at a cost of several million dollars, plus an additional $1.25 million for shipping the vehicles to Cambodia and Thailand for the demining programs.
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Director-General Khem Sophoan of the Cambodian Mine Action Center receives the transfer of 100 donated U.S. Army trucks from U.S. Ambassador Ken Weideman. |
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The first 100 vehicles were donated and shipped to Cambodia for use by the Cambodia Mine Action Center for employment in the national demining program. The second 150 vehicles were shipped to Thailand for employment in Thailand’s national demining program. An additional 309 trucks were turned over for use by the Royal Thai Army.
The Philippines received
200 trucks, 30 of which were shipped to East Timor for immediate use by
the Philippine military contingent of the UN peacekeeping force. Some
of the other donated trucks arrived in time to be used in the Mount Mayon
volcano disaster. Another 300 trucks are programmed for the armed forces
of Sri Lanka.
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Donated U.S. Army trucks arrive at a warehouse in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, for use in the Cambodian demining program. |
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