New Holland Construction last week announced it has won the majority of the biggest tender ever promoted by the Italian Army for construction equipment applications.

For a total of €21 million (about U.S. $31.4 million), the 142 units will be delivered over the next 12 to 24 months from at least three different CNH European plants: Turin and Lecce in Italy and the Berlin plant in Germany.

The bid involved major leading European manufacturers with a request for specific product applications for the military sector. The 142 units requested included crawler excavators, wheel loaders, graders and dozers, for a total of five different models: the D180 dozer, F156.6 grader, E245BM crawler excavator and W130 and W190 wheel loaders. All products will be painted in green military polychrome livery and shipped with special attachments to suit the sector’s requirements. The variety of the attachments included (i.e. buckets, hammers and crushers), will allow several different applications of the machines.

The products will be used to renew the Italian Army’s current fleet of construction equipment machinery and will be utilized throughout its various sites all over the world to support safety and defense initiatives.

The successful final testing of the first 24 New Holland E245B Multifunction excavators carried out at the New Holland San Mauro plant proved the equipment to be fully in line with the request.

In addition, New Holland Construction will supply 15 units worth more than €1.5 million (U.S. $2.2 million), to the Italian Fire Brigade. These units will be delivered within the next two months.

The 15-unit supply includes the E245B and the E215B crawler excavators and the C175 compact track loaders, all of which are painted with the Italian Fire Brigades’ typical red color and delivered with special attachments to suit the sector’s requirements. The aim of this special supply will be to revamp the Fire Brigades’ current fleet of construction equipment machinery, and to thereby support their safety and rescue activities.

Among the construction equipment units ordered by the Italian Firefighting Brigades, several Crawler Excavators — equipped with crushers and orange-peel grabs — and compact track loaders will be immediately used for demolition and scrap removal in the Abruzzo earthquake-stricken area.

New Holland is a global, full-line construction equipment brand, with a network of 800 dealers and more than 2,100 outlets in 100 countries. New Holland is a division of CNH Global N.V., a majority-owned subsidiary of Fiat S.p.A.