November 11, 2010: Norway has bought 20 Dingo 2 armored trucks for its troops in Afghanistan. The first ten will be delivered to Afghanistan this month, with the other ten following in three months. Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria and the Czech Republic also use this vehicle. Nearly 700 Dingo 2s have been delivered or are on order since it entered service five years ago.
Dingo 2 is a four wheeled, 12 ton, armored version of the classic Mercedes-Benz UNIMOG truck series, and carries up to eight personnel or four tons of cargo. Top speed is 90 kilometers per hour, and the armor protection can handle mines, roadside bombs and small arms fire. The Dingo 2 is roughly similar in size and capability to an armored hummer, but much heavier. The German made Dingo is armed with a remote control (from inside the vehicle) 7.62mm machine-gun. Israel, Austria and Germany have also ordered Dingo 2s, which cost about half a million dollars each.
