Belgian army grounds entire Piranha fleet over safety issues
The Belgian army has temporarily lost use of all its Piranha IIIC armoured vehicles due to severe technical problems that need to be investigated and resolved. The Piranha IIIC vehicles are among those used by the Belgian army to compensate for the absence of tanks, which the country phased out in 2014.
The Belgian Directorate General of Material Resources (DGMR) stated that ensuring safety is its top priority. It aims to prevent any unnecessary risks until the situation is thoroughly assessed.
Issues with Belgian Piranha IIIC
As noted by the Opex360 portal, it is rare for an entire fleet of military vehicles to be grounded due to a technical issue, as such situations are usually reserved for aircraft or helicopters. This could suggest that the issue with the Belgian Piranha IIIC armoured vehicles is significant.
The DGMR decided to ground all Piranha IIIC vehicles after cracks were found in the chassis of several units during maintenance. The Belgian army currently has 127 units of Piranha IIIC in various versions, including infantry fighting vehicles, fire support vehicles, command vehicles, and medical service transports. The most common version is equipped with a 12.7 mm (.50 calibre) machine gun and has a transport compartment that can carry up to ten soldiers. The fire support vehicles, in turn, possess a 90 mm cannon. These vehicles have an 8x8 drive system design.
A NATO country without tanks and with problematic transporters
The media emphasizes that this situation is not the first instance that reflects poorly on the Belgian army's equipment. They remind readers that the operation of the Piranha IIIC has been suspended by the DGMR for the third time in five years.
These are some of the wheeled armoured vehicles Belgium used to compensate for the lack of tanks—Belgium retired its last Leopard 1 tanks in 2014. Abandoning such equipment was once common among NATO countries. The Netherlands did something similar but has now changed its approach, deciding to acquire the latest Leopard 2A8 tanks.
The Belgian Ministry of Defence announced that it is working with the Swiss company MOWAG and hopes to return as many Piranha IIIC armoured vehicles to service as possible. These vehicles were originally planned to serve in the Belgian army for several more years until the acquisition of multi-purpose armoured personnel carriers, VBMR Griffon.
