UPDF unveils MCAV-20 vehicles

The trainees with MCAV-20 vehicles in the background. (Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces)

The Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF) revealed on 22 August that it is operating Calidus MCAV-20 4×4 light armoured vehicles when it announced that some of its personnel had been trained on the type.

It said that 78 soldiers from the Motorised Infantry Division and Special Forces Command graduated from the six-month training course during a ceremony held in Nakasongola.

The UPDF did not say how many MCAV-20s it has received but released photographs showing at least five during the graduation ceremony.

The Motorised Infantry Division is a relatively new formation that the UPDF referred to for the first time in October 2024. It is presumably an expansion of the Motorised Infantry Brigade, which was also based at Nakasongola Cantonment until at least 2022.

The UPDF is the seventh known operator of the MCAV-20, which was launched by Abu Dhabi-based Calidus in February 2021, the others being Benin, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Mauritania.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) appears to be strengthening its military relations with Uganda. When Lieutenant General Issa Saif al-Mazrouei, chief of staff of the UAE Armed Forces, visited Uganda in July, the UPDF said he held discussions with General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's son and the chief of defence forces, on a forthcoming memorandum of understanding that would further enhance military co-operation.

The UPDF also revealed in June 2024 that it had received unspecified training from Global Security Services Group, a company that normally works for the Emirati government, when it thanked its CEO, Mohammad Hamdan Alzaabi.

For more information, please see Uganda opens armoured vehicle plant .