Made by Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles GmbH (RMMV), the first Multi A4 FSA protected military transport vehicle has been formally transferred to the Bundeswehr at an official rollout ceremony in Munich.

Featuring a heavily protected driver's cab, the Multi A4 FSA does an excellent job of keeping its occupants safe from typical threats encountered during deployed operations. Capable of carrying a 16 ton-payload, the high-performance Multi A4 FSA system platform is well suited to a wide variety of transport roles.

An efficient, well-protected system, this robust RMMV vehicle bridges a significant capabilities gap, enabling the German military to supply and support the growing number of remote outposts in Afghanistan it is currently setting up under a new strategy.

By the end of 2010, the Bundeswehr will have around forty of these vehicles in its inventory, with a further 60 Multi A4 FSAs to follow in short order.

This means that the Bundeswehr will soon have at its disposal 100 out of a total of 157 vehicles ordered thus far under a series production contract that runs until Q1 2012.

Since October 2010, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG and Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles GmbH have been successfully carrying out acceptance testing of the first serially produced vehicles, which are based on RMMV's 8x8 SX45 chassis.

Since training is taking place in tandem with ongoing deliveries of the Multi A4 FSA, the vehicle will be ready to go into action abroad early in 2010, performing a wide array of operational support missions. In particular, the new vehicles will make a major contribution to force protection by enhancing the security of troops engaged in logistical and transport operations.

The "multi" in Multi A4 FSA is a German acronym standing for "Mechanisierte Umschlag-, Lagerung-, Transport-Integration", i.e. "mechanized handling, storage and transport integration", while FSA is short for "Fahrzeugschutzausstattung", underscoring the vehicle's integral forces protection features which, unlike in modular solutions, are built in right from the start rather than retrofitted.

The protected all-steel driver's cab, equipped with heated bullet-resistant glass windows, provides the crew with effective protection against ballistic threats, blast mines and roadside bombs.

Besides standardized, interchangeable load carriers from its predecessor vehicle (the A3) and multifunctional containers, the Multi A4 FSA is able to load and transport 20-foot ISO containers without a variable loader platform completely on its own.

When mounted with a protected container for transporting personnel (the "MuConPers"), the Multi A4 FSA is able to transport up to 18 people with the highest system-compatible level of protection.