South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration said on the 31st that it had successfully completed development of an armored medical evacuation vehicle designed to improve troop survivability and sharply strengthen casualty evacuation capabilities.
The vehicle is purpose-built to rescue wounded soldiers from front-line battlefields and dangerous areas exposed to enemy gunfire and other weapons threats, and to move them to rear hospitals where they can receive specialized emergency treatment and remote medical support.
The interior carries a range of medical equipment, including a stretcher loading system, an oxygen supply unit and an automated external defibrillator. It is also fitted with a positive-pressure system for chemical, biological and radiological contamination, further improving survivability.
The standard and commercial ambulances the military has been using for medical evacuation have limited mobility and face constraints in protection, rough-terrain performance and off-road driving, making it difficult to support emergency evacuation close to combat units.
"The newly developed armored medical evacuation vehicle is based on the already proven wheeled command post vehicle, giving it strong mobility and protection," an official at the agency said. "We plan to prepare for mass production so the vehicles can be delivered to the military on schedule."
