An Cosantóir

12 | MOWAG V I S I T TO I R E L AN D (Director Business Development Europe), Arnaud de Péchy (Regional Sales Director) and Urs Koller (Director Customer Services) visited the Curragh. Terry McLaughlin caught up with them to ask them about their visit… What is the purpose of your visit to Ireland? Mr Brühlmann: This is the second day I of our three-day visit before we return to Switzerland. We had several reasons for the visit. Firstly, Arnaud and I have recently taken up new positions in Mowag and we wanted to meet all the relevant people in the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence as we see Ireland as one of our key European customers. Our new positions came about as a result of a restructuring of our company, which has seen us change from a product-orientated business development approach to a geographically based model. Our marketing and business development function is now divided to cover four regions: Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. I am responsible for business development in Europe and Arnaud is my sales director for several countries, including Ireland. Consequently, we were anxious to meet with representatives of the Mowag user community, and particularly those people responsible for acquisitions, planning and operational strategy. I have been with Mowag since 1992 and have held a range of positions including Deputy Director of Engineering, and Director Advanced Wheeled-Vehicle Programmes. Spending this length of time with the company means that I have a deep understanding of the business strategy, culture and leadership within Mowag and I am really keen to work in this new area. I also wanted to give a presentation on our company’s current status and An Cosantóir July 2011 n May, representatives from General Dynamics European Land Systems - Mowag GmbH, Lars Brühlmann product portfolio. This was partly in response to a request from the Defence Forces for information about the provision of support for the delivery of specific capabilities. Therefore, in addition to presenting information on the Piranha wheeled armoured vehicle, we also covered our light tactical vehicles, the Eagle and, particularly, the Duro. Can you tell us something about these vehicles? We think that our 10-tonne Eagle is an outstanding vehicle and there are currently 700 Eagle operating around the world. Similarly, we feel that the DURO IIIP, which is built on the same chassis, but slightly heavier, also provides a high standard of protective mobility for its 2+8 crew and passengers. Three versions of the Duro are currently deployed with many countries around the world, including Ireland, and it is being used in many operational areas including Afghanistan. Of course our main product is still the Piranha, of which over 13,000 are in operation worldwide. Where are your vehicles produced? Manufacturing for Europe, Latin America and the Middle East is carried out in Switzerland. The vehicles used by the US (Stryker) and Canada (LAV) are produced in North America under licence, but we still keep our centre of excellence in Mowag. All the know-how regarding suspension, drive lines, etc is still kept in-house and we evolve new versions via our design and research and development departments. How are you finding business in the current climate? The European market is facing difficulties from the international financial crisis and reduced defence budgets, but we are still identifying growth areas, particularly for protected mobility in the 4x4 class. We see the further evolution of the design of the Eagle as one of the ways to realise this growth potential. Furthermore, in the wheeled armoured vehicle class we also see growth potential in through-life support, by means of maintenance repair and overhaul as well as mid-life upgrades. Another area of potential growth for the wheeled armoured vehicle market is in Eastern Europe, where former Soviet bloc countries have need for additional vehicles in this kind of class as old equipment reaches the end of its life. How important is your relationship with the Defence Forces? Piranha Group Europe provides the platform for all the European users of the Piranha to meet on a regular basis to exchange their experiences, know- how and needs, and the Defence Forces is an important member of this group. We have a very good relationship with you and the feedback we get is of great benefit to us - how you are using the vehicles; how you are satisfied with their performance; and how we can improve our support to the Defence Forces. This is particularly helpful as the Defence Forces deploys our vehicles in very difference environments such as Lebanon, Liberia, Chad and the Arctic Circle while operating with the Nordic Battle Group. In addition, the Defence Forces is one of our most sophisticated users in terms of how you use the system, how you train your personnel, and how you operate the system. Your techniques and procedures are well developed and what I have seen has really impressed me in terms of how you support and maintain the vehicles, and how dedicated the people who use them are.

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