The New Zealand Ministry of Defence (MoD) is in “preliminary discussions” with the Argentine Government around a potential sale of its remaining surplus NZLAVs to the country.
New Zealand originally bought 105 NZLAVs across three variants from General Dynamics Land Systems Canada (GDLS) in the early 2000s, to replace the country's fleet of M113 armoured personnel carriers (APC).
However, in 2010, the New Zealand government declared the fleet surplus to their requirements and put 20 vehicles up for sale. In 2018 another 10 vehicles were declared surplus, for a total of 30 surplus vehicles. In 2022 the Chilean Marine Corps bought 22 of the vehicles, leaving New Zealand with eight still to sell.
The proposed sale to Argentina, ADM understands, is related to an ongoing competition in the South American country to modernise its wheeled armoured vehicle fleet. Both the LAV III and American Stryker - which is itself a variant of the LAV III platform - are contenders in the competition which also includes offers from Brazil.
The US bid is based on a 2020 US $100 million Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case which includes 27 M1126 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles (ICV), augmented with additional vehicles and variants.
Canada’s Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) is reportedly[NP1] offering new-build LAV IIIs to Argentina which is where the eight New Zealand NZLAVs come in. If the Canadian option was taken up, the NZLAVs would reportedly make an initial tranche of eight vehicles that could be delivered by early 2025.
“The NZDF is in preliminary discussions with Argentina [around a sale]," the New Zealand MoD said in a statement.
"The NZDF has eight surplus [NZLAVs].”
The CCC has not responded to ADM’s questions at the time of writing.