By Andrea Guidugli
Since 2021 Infodefensa.com has been reporting on the difficult and hindered development of the modernization project of the Chilean Army’s armored fleet, called Proaco.
Proaco had a budget close to US$200 million and was entrusted to Famae [Chilean state-owned firearms manufacturer] to provide solutions to electronic and internal communications systems and components for the Leopard 2 A4, Marder 1 A3, and M109 tanks affected by technical and logistical obsolescence.
Our first article on the subject, launched on June 22, 2021, and called “Chilean Army and the uncertain future of the modernization of its armored fleet,” reported that Famae opted for the solution presented by:
- Elbit Systems (Israel) for the modernization of the fire control system of the MBT Leopard 2 A4,
- OIP Land Systems (Belgium, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems) for the modernization of the observation and aim of the Marder 1 A3 tank,
- and the solution presented by Aselsan (Turkey) for the internal communications of the tanks.
The striking thing about Famae’s solution for the Leopard 2 A4 is that it was distant from the experience and linked with the tank’s OEM (Krauss-Maffei Wegmann).
Then we published the article “Famae puts the Chilean Army in check by false steps in the Proaco project,” highlighting the decision in 2021 of the then Minister of Defense, Baldo Prokurika, to object to Famae’s choice of Israeli Elbit Systems for the modernization of the fire control system, due to the similarity with the modernization of the TAM tank, currently under development in Argentina.
This was a blatant mistake by Famae for not verifying that the Chilean Army established this situation as an excluding condition for the bidders, forcing Famae to generate a new bidding process for the Leopard 2 A4 MBT solution.
Finally, the article published in November 2022, “The Chilean Army doubts about the success of the Leopard modernization due to FAMAE’s management,” reported the complex progress of the contracts awarded to OIP Land Systems (Belgium) and the Turkish Aselsan when strangely, legal advisors are weak to the interests of the Chilean state and the new bidding process for the modernization of the MBT Leopard 2 A4.
CURRENT STATUS OF PROACO
Despite the long time elapsed and the evident stumbles of Famae in its development, it is clear that the problems persist in the state defense company and with greater acuity.
On the one hand, the ongoing contracts with OIP Land Systems for the Marder 1 A3 tank and Aselsan have shown that the main problem is its lack of experience in successfully integrating new components into the Chilean tanks.
On the other hand, Famae has not shown to be a very strict counterpart, as they have allowed successive contract extensions of prototypes and not of in-use solutions as was supposed to be required, which has delayed the results.
To date, OIP Land Systems has not obtained the acceptance of the first unit and Aselan, despite having the consent of Famae to start the implementation of the series.
There are doubts about its success since it has not yet achieved full functional integration in the M109 parts regarding the required noise suppression standards.
Regarding Marder 1 A3 and Leopard 2 A4, they have not yet developed anything that can be validated since it is conditioned to the completion of the modernizations of the fire control systems that have not yet been completed.
FAMAE’S BLUNDERS CONTINUE
As previously commented, the MBT Leopard 2 A4 fire control system modernization solution, due to Famae’s missteps, is already on a third bidding attempt.
The new one was re-launched at the end of January this year, with four proposals being submitted: Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co, Indra with Rheinmetall LS partnership, OIP, and Aselsan.
The process is currently in the award definition phase, with a previous pre-selection stage already executed, where the most experienced options were discarded.
Strangely, the only two that can demonstrate that their solutions are guaranteed by their experience in the Leopard 2 tank, i.e., KMW and Indra-RLS, remain competing to select experimental solutions again.
So once again, it is questionable that OIP Land Systems has been invited to the knowledge of Famae and the Chilean Army.
The reason is that they will offer as a solution something similar or equal to what was previously presented by Elbit Systems and rejected by an objection from the Ministry of Defense in 2021.
Besides, neither of the two shortlisted solutions meets the requirements imposed by the Chilean Army.
The selected solution must be developed and used in MBT platforms, considering that the platform and the model it is installed must be indicated.
UNDUE PRESSURE
In addition, according to internal sources of the Chilean Army, a critical account was given of an inappropriate and erratic letter from the Israeli Defense Attaché in Chile and concurrent in other countries of the region, such as Argentina, Ecuador, and Paraguay.
The letter was sent to the commander in chief of the Chilean Army, General Javier Iturriaga, dated November 2022, proposing a solution to unblock and solve the problems presented by the modernization project of the Leopard 2 tanks led by Famae with the Israeli company Elbit Systems.
It consists of transferring the execution of the project to Elbit’s subsidiary (OIP Belgium), thus carrying out a complete rotation between the professional personnel who will work for Argentina and those who will work for Chile so that the secrecy of the project will be adequately protected.
He bases his proposal on the fact that OIP has sufficient experience since it is currently developing the modernization of the observation and targeting of the Marder 1 A3 tanks for Chile, which was previously proposed with defaults.
NEED FOR CHANGES
In the absence of profound and immediate changes in the direction of Proaco at the government level, the future of the MBT Leopard 2 A4 as the main weapon system of the Chilean Army is at risk due to the uncertainty of implementing solutions that do not demonstrate with concrete information that they are in use in the MBT Leopard 2A4.
It is striking that the solutions pre-selected by Famae lack this requirement, which the Chilean Army sets, and that the Army is not demanding its compliance, especially when companies with real-world experience with the MBT Leopard 2 are left out in the first stage.
Could it be that the technical requirements are self-interestedly poorly formulated?
Given the facts, has the spuriousness of Famae’s bidding process for this and other projects of strategic interest been assessed?
Given the time elapsed since the budget allocation, the market costs do not allow to cover the total fleet of Leopard 2 A4 MBTs.
It may be necessary to rethink the quantities to be intervened and project the completion shortly to safeguard the effective operational capabilities of the most powerful weapon system of the land force.
What is happening with the Proaco project is a clear example of the need for defense investments executed by the Armed Forces to be necessarily supervised and controlled by the specialized agency of the Ministry of Defense in the style and competition that exists with governments with which Chile has signed collaboration agreements.
In this way, the Ministry ensures that the strategic objectives and capabilities established for the forces are met with the greatest feasible efficiency through supervision and control.
Finally, by comparing these countries with their Chilean defense peers (Asmar and Enaer) at the recent LAAD fair held last April in Brazil with their important projects under development.
Something has been going on for a long time in Famae that does not allow it to make a leap of modernity in its management and does not allow it to move away from the ghosts that affect the transparency of the processes of purchases from third parties.
If they do not make profound changes, we could lament the closure of the oldest company in Chile and the region.
With information from Infodefensa
News Chile, English news Chile, Chilean Army