LAAD 2015: Industry hopes for Brazil 8x8 contract this year
Industry officials are hoping a contract for the development of an 8x8 variant of VBTP-MR Guarani armoured vehicle will be signed by the Brazilian government later this year, ending uncertainty about the project’s future.
Italian company Iveco has already delivered 174 Guarani vehicles in a 6x6 configuration as part of a contract signed for 2,044 units in 2012. The company will deliver 100 vehicles a year to the army for the next 20 years.
Speaking to Shephard at the LAAD exhibition in Rio de Janeiro, Iveco’s director of research and development for Latin America, Giovanni D’Ambrosio, said he hoped the company would see a contract for an 8x8 vehicle in 2015.
D’Ambrosio confirmed that once a contract was signed it would take at least six years to develop and test an 8x8 prototype to meet the Brazilian Army’s requirement. ‘It will be a completely new design,’ he added.
The Brazilian Army published Basic Operational Requirements (ROB) for a new Medium Wheeled- Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle (VBR-MR) on 12 September last year. A separate RfP has also been published for the VBR-MR’s main weapon system, which calls for the use of a 105mm gun.
Current plans state that one prototype 105mm gun would be built, a pilot lot of 13 units would then follow and a possible serial production run of around 100 units after that.
D’Ambrosio said because the 8x8 is a different design to the current Guarani 6x6, development work could not begin until a contract decision on the turret and weapon system had been made. ‘We can only start the design [of the 8x8] only after the gun has been chosen,’ explained D’Ambrosio.
Engineering work would be carried out at Iveco’s engineering facility in Sete Lagoas, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
Four companies are competing to provide the weapon system for the VBR-MR; Belgium’s CMI Defence, Italy’s OTO Melara, South Africa’s Denel Land Systems and China North Industries Corporation.
A consortium made up of OTO Melara, OTO Melara do Brasil and Ares – a Brazilian subsidiary of Elbit Systems – is offering a version of the three man HitFact turret. According to OTO Melara executives, the ‘modular’ 105/120mm gun system would be manufactured by the stated-owned munitions company Imbel.
OTO Melara do Brasil’s president, Gianfranco Pazienza, told Shephard he expected the decision on the 8x8 turret to be made later this year. He confirmed the company had submitted its bid for the contract on March 9th.
Belgium manufacturer CMI Defence – which has had a presence in Brazil since 2004 – has put forward the Cockerill 3000 series 105mm high-pressure tank gun to equip the VBR-MR. CMI Defence told Shephard that its two-man, auto-loaded turret is the only 21st century turret on offer in the Brazilian tender.
A top-level CMI defence official in Brazil said the company had invested significant funds developing detailed plans for turret manufacturing facility in Brazil, which would follow a similar model to facilities already set up in the Middle East, Indonesia and Poland.
Denel will offer a 105mm concept initially developed for the South African military’s Rooikat vehicle.
Cost issues will likely lead to the prototype and initial batch of 13 turrets being manufactured outside of Brazil, whichever company wins the VBR-MR turret tender. OTO Melara said the first batch of HitFact turrets would aim for 20% nationalisation, which would gradually increase to 60% over the project’s life.
Iveco is also competing for a Brazilian Army requirement for 186 4x4 armoured vehicles known as the VBMT-LR. D’Ambrosio said the company is offering its Light Mobility Vehicle (LMV), which is currently in use with the British and Italian Army.
The results of that tender could come as soon as next month. Other competitors include Avibras teaming with Renault Trucks Defense, Grupo Inbra Filtro, BAE Systems Land Systems South Africa and AM General.
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