Update: Iraq announces start of VN22 armoured vehicle production

A still from a video released on 3 April 2024 shows a Norinco VN22 being demonstrated for the Iraqi minister of interior. (Defence Industry Commission of Iraq (DICI))

Iraq's state-owned defence industry has said it has begun producing Norinco VN22 6×6 armoured vehicles.

The Defence Industry Commission of Iraq (DICI) posted a video on its Facebook page on 1 April in which engineer Mustafa Ati Hassan, the president of the Military Industrialization Authority, stood next to a VN22 to announce the start of production of a 6×6 vehicle he did not name at the Al-Rabie factory, which is in southeast Baghdad. He provided no further details of the programme, with the video showing a production line for 4×4 light armoured vehicles, not the VN22.

The DICI released a second video on 3 April showing the VN22 being demonstrated for Minister of Interior Abdul Amir al-Shammari and federal police personnel. Shammari said a technical committee has been formed to assess the vehicle and, once that process is complete, a contract will be signed to acquire it for the federal police. The Federal Police Forces Command released a similar video showing what it said was a vehicle that is expected to enter service with its forces.

Norinco unveiled the VN22 in 2021, with an Arabic-language brochure released the following year saying it has a combat weight of 25 tonnes when fitted with a remotely operated 30 mm weapon station, which leaves space for eight dismounts in addition to three crew members. The brochure says the vehicle has Level 14 ballistic protection (up to 14.5 mm rounds under the VPAM standard) and Level 4A and 4B landmine protection.