According to the agreement reached between FNSS and Saudi Arabia, the modernization of three hundred M 113 will be carried out by FNSS with a cost of 200 million dollars. A settlement was arranged upon the first part of the agreement which involves about 2000 vehicles in total.
The current contract for the 300 involves a total overhaul of the vehicles. The parts to be produced by FNSS will be assembled at Saudi military facilities near the city of Sadr Al Kharj. FNSS, which earlier modernized 64 M113 armored vehicles for the Saudis in two batches in 2004 and in 2005, will be in charge of the management of Saudi military facilities during the upgrade of the additional 300. Ninety
percent of the engineers at the Saudi facilities are those trained by FNSS engineers. In the latest Saudi deal, FNSS will again work with foreign subcontractors for the acquisition of some systems to be equipped on the M113s, including night vision thermal cameras. Under a rare practice, drivers of the M113 vehicles to be modernized will also wear thermal cameras an
expensive practice, but one that increases the capability of the user’s long-range vision at night. FNSS earlier delivered 1,698 armored
fighting vehicles under four different figurations for the Turkish Land Forces Command.
Under a separate contract, FNSS also delivered 551 advanced armo red personnel carriers (AAPC) to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) under a 2000
agreement costing around $338 million.