Brazil negotiates with Iveco to reduce its order for Guarani armored vehicles from 1,500 to 900

According to Army High Command sources, the Brazilian Army is renegotiating the Guarani Strategic Program contract with Iveco Defence Vehicles (IDV) to reduce its order for 6×6 Guarani armored vehicles.

The Brazilian land force intends to cut up to 600 units from the 1,500 vehicles currently requested to 900.

To date, the factory that IDV owns in Sete Lagoas (MG) has produced slightly more than 600 armored vehicles, so if the contractual changes are carried out to the terms that the Army wants, only less than 300 vehicles will remain.

If the parties finally reach an agreement, this would be the second reduction of the armor order since 2,000 units were originally ordered.

It is believed that six more years will be necessary to reach the goal of 900 Guarani armored vehicles delivered, maintaining the low production rate of 60 cars per year, giving strategic program planners and managers time to define the final Guarani acquisitions, especially in the case of the dedicated/specialized versions.

The arrival of the Centauro II 8×8 should promote numerous impacts within the land force, with more resources destined for the Italian battle tank gradually, which may lead to the cancellation of modernization programs of older vehicles such as the Leopard 1A5 BR battle tanks and the 6×6 reconnaissance Engesa EE-9 Cascavel, the former still under study and the latter under the responsibility of the defense company Akaer.

SPECIALIZED VERSIONS

In the coming years, the Army will invest in specialized versions of the Guarani, as it already does with the engineering version, which uses implements from the British company Person Engineering.

In addition, an ambulance version is being developed, and acquisition studies are being carried out for the 120 mm on-board carrier versions (priority, with 100 units planned), command, control, and communications post, anti-aircraft defense version with short-range missiles, anti-aircraft defense radar carrier vehicle, and anti-tank guided missile launcher version.

Another derivative of the Guarani 6×6 that should begin to gain more space is the IFV version, accepted by the Brazilian Army after ten years of evaluations, armed with an Elbit Systems UT30BR turret equipped with a Bushmaster MK.44 30mm cannon and sophisticated sensors for night combat or in adverse weather conditions.

CBC nationalized the most consumable ammunition for this type of armament.

155 MM SELF-PROPELLED HOWITZER

In addition to the specialized versions based on the Guarani 6×6, the Brazilian Army intends to acquire a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer on wheels, a weapon system unpublished in the history of the Brazilian Artillery.

EME/C Ex Orders Nos. 685 and 686 approved the operational requirements (RO) and the technical, logistical, and industrial needs (RTLI), respectively, of the 155mm self-propelled wheeled armored combat vehicle (VBCOAP 155 SR) of the Field Artillery System’s Line of Fire Subsystem, the EB20-RO-04.021, and the EB20-RTLI-04.010.

Initial requirements stipulate a minimum purchase of 36 vehicles or three battalions of self-propelled wheeled artillery with three four-piece batteries.

The acquisition of this mobile artillery would enable the Army to reach 40 km with assisted ammunition or to hit targets at 25/30 km with standard ammunition, all within a concept of extreme precision with extensive use of drones at observation posts, ultra-fast entry and exit from positions and a much longer range of fire coverage than the current range, which can barely reach 20 km with 105 mm Light Gun self-propelled artillery shells using assisted ammunition.

LMV 4X4 VEHICLE

Another vehicle that should receive new purchases by the Brazilian Army, the IDV LMV, whose first batch has already been delivered by the Sete Lagoas plant, continues to maintain its position as the 4×4 tactical armored vehicle of the Guarani Family, and more examples of the model should be ordered, increasing the work done in the assembly and final integration of these vehicles in Brazil.

The LMVs are essential in the increasingly recurrent military operations of urban use, and as an element of maneuver and speed in the Guarani Brigades, besides being the only vehicles of their category in the entire Army, capable of assuming high-risk missions in United Nations Peace Forces with certified levels of protection and mobility/reliability.

With information from Infodefensa