Press Releases 2005

The Defense Dept. delivered the first Humvees to the Polish Army in August 2004.

The U.S. Department of Defense has completed delivery of a total of 217 High-Mobility, Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles ("Humvees").

The vehicles were delivered in batches between September 2004 and March of 2005.

The Humvees are now being prepared for Polish roads and for weapons system installation prior to integration into the 18th Airborne Battalion of the 6th Airborne Brigade in Bielsko-Biała, near Kraków.

The 18th Airborne Battalion is on the Polish Ministry of National Defense’s shortlist of units to support NATO’s "Reaction Forces."

In August, 2004, Ambassador Victor Ashe presented the first of these vehicles to Polish Minister of National Defense Jerzy Szmajdziński in Kielce.

The U.S. Department of Defense is providing the vehicles through the Foreign Military Financing program.

The Polish Military generally uses funds from this program to purchase equipment enabling their units to operate with NATO and U.S. forces. The F-16 fighters and C-130 transport aircraft are also being financed this way.

Since the 1991 Gulf War, the Humvee has symbolized the modern U.S. Army just as the Jeep did during WWII.

The Humvee is a light, air transportable and droppable, highly mobile, diesel-powered, four-wheel-drive vehicle equipped with an automatic transmission.

Based on a single chassis, using common components and kits, the Humvee can be configured into one of 11 variants.

Among them are a utility/cargo truck, shelter carrier, armament carrier, ambulance, TOW (anti-tank) missile carrier, and scout-reconnaissance configuration.

The Humvee is manufactured by AM General in South Bend, Indiana. The variant packages are manufactured by O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt in Fairfield, Ohio.