Peru looks for alternatives to renew 8×8 armored vehicles fleet

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Defense has approved the start of activities to carry out an international market survey to evaluate the alternatives offered by the defense industry in terms of 8×8 armored vehicles for the benefit of the Peruvian Army.

To date, there is no official announcement on the eventual purchase of armored vehicles. Unofficial information gathered by InfoDefensa indicates that, although the start of a new market survey has been approved, no budgetary resources have been transferred to carry it out.

The first purchase of more than 30 armored vehicles for the Peruvian Army is in process, at least administratively, without an official announcement that would make the military modernization process transparent.

RENOVATION PROCESS

Between 2006 and 2011, the purchase of VT-1A+ tanks from Norinco was frustrated due to the Ukrainian government’s protest over export duties on the diesel engine to third countries.

The tank did not meet the Army’s technical requirements, but the Chinese manufacturer counter-offered a modified variant that meets them.

On December 11, 2012, Legislative Decree No. 1142, “Law of Bases for the Modernization of the Armed Forces,” was published in the official gazette, which establishes in a very general way the legal basis and strategic axes for the implementation of military modernization in Peru.

On April 25, 2013, the Public Investment Project (PIP) called “Improvement of the Armored System Capabilities in the COS (Southern Operational Command)” began to be administered, which contemplated not only the replacement of several armored vehicles but also that of the obsolete T-55 tanks.

Since then, market surveys and even short lists have been carried out, placing tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and armored personnel carriers of various makes, origins, and capabilities at the top of the Army’s preferences.

German, French, South Korean, Iraqi, U.S., Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, and most recently, Turkish armored vehicles have been evaluated.

In addition, the local company Diseños Casanave Corporation has submitted several proposals to recover some combat capability in the Army’s armored fleet by partially modifying and upgrading some vehicles.

PERU’S ARMORED FLEET

The Peruvian Army has a completely obsolete fleet of T-55 tanks, AMX-13 tank hunters, and a small number of these modified to integrate anti-tank missiles (unfortunately deleting their main gun) and a variety of veteran armored vehicles, from BTR-50, Fiat OTO 6616, Fiat OTO 6614 (there is a study – thesis approved at the Postgraduate School of the Army War College – that supports the feasibility of integrating the Czekalski 105 mm recoilless gun in the 6614-H), BRDM-2, UR-416, M-113 (there is an ongoing project to modernize the M-113A1 to M-113A3, an option that attracted interest from the Peruvian military at Sitdef 2021), M-106 and even some Half-Tracks that have been seen until a few years ago.

Recent military conflicts and wars, such as those of Azerbaijan with Armenia and the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, have demonstrated the vulnerability of tanks and armored vehicles to new weapons such as combat drones and marauding munitions, to anti-tank missiles, particularly when adequate deployments of combined arms are not carried out, as was the case with Armenia and is now the case with Russia, whose Army has suffered heavy human and material losses as a result, such that the respective Russian and Ukrainian industries are going to be very busy in the coming years to recover from the tremendous destruction of capabilities that has taken place.

With information from InfoDefensa