September 11, 2010: The Netherlands is selling 80 of its Cold War era XA-188 6x6 wheeled armored personnel carriers to Estonia, for about $310,000 each. This is the largest weapons purchase Estonia has made since it became independent, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, Estonia has joined NATO and been replacing its Russian designed weapons and equipment.

The XZ-199 is a 23 ton vehicle with a crew of two. It is armed with a 12.7mm machine-gun. It’s armor can stop 14.5mm bullets. The vehicle has GPS and night vision equipment, and carries nine passengers. It is 7.5 meters/23 feet long and 2.9 meters/nine feet wide. Top speed is 95 kilometers an hour and range, on roads, is 800 kilometers.

The vehicles are about 20 years old, but have been well cared for and will be refurbished in the Netherlands before being shipped to Estonia (which earlier bought 60 older model XA-180s from Finland.) Estonia has been using the XA-180s in Afghanistan.