France and the United States are in advanced talks regarding a US offer to lend up to 100 RG-31 armoured troop carriers to French forces fighting in Afghanistan, the defence ministry in Paris said on 27 November. "Technical discussions on the actual version of the RG-31 on offer are under way between American and French officials on the ground in Afghanistan," a senior aide at the French general staff told Jane's. The Pentagon's offer of the mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP)-type vehicles follows France's acquisition of five larger, US-manufactured Buffalo route-clearing and counter-IED (improvised explosive device) vehicles. The contract, worth USD5.5 million, was signed earlier this year under a French Defence Ministry emergency funding programme.
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