Military Technology 05/2021

US and European products. Wheeled combat vehicles for use in conven- tional conflict constitute the other side of demand. Currently, only Brazil manufactures them – GUARANI and the ASTROS rocket launcher – with Argentina having shown some interest in local assembly or manufacture. Brazil Taking pole position in the Latin American market as developer, and despite several abortive projects (such as the unsuccessful Inbra GLADIATOR, revealed in 2009), Brazil has two existing and one emerging AFV programmes. The Avibrás family of vehicles’ main exponents are the AV-VBL 4x4, on a Tatra chassis, and the ASTROS II MRL, on a 6x6 chassis. The former debuted in 2001 using a Mercedes Benz chassis, but in 2009 underwent major redesign and, besides use as a light transport, is now mainly sold to support the ASTROS II system. This was developed from 1981 at the request of Iraq, and used a 6x2 Mercedes Benz L-2013 truck chassis, lat- er replaced by a 6x6 Mercedes Benz 2028-A chassis and the same cabin design as the AV-VBL. After exports to Iraq, the system was also sold to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Malaysia and Indonesia, and is in Brazilian Army service. ASTROS is still being produced, with six of the Mk-6 ver- sion contracted by the Brazilian Army in 2020, to join those procured in 2011 as part of the Astros 2020 programme. Other than ASTROS, the main armoured vehicle programme is the Iveco GUARANI 6x6. In December 2007, Iveco was contracted to de- velop a new vehicle to partially replace the URUTUs and to increase the Many Latin American countries developed and built their own AFVs, with varying levels of success, depending on their experience, in- dustrial development and budgets. Brazil’s GUARANI is the most successful case. Latin America’s first tank – the SALINAS – was built by Mexican air- craft factory TNCA in 1917. Used by the government during the Mexican Revolution, the programme inspired Brazil to similar forays in the 1930s and Argentina in the 1940s, though few of these went beyond the protype stage. The first successful AFV programmes in the region emerged in Brazil in the 1970s: the EE-9 CASCAVEL – a light reconnaissance 6x6 with a 90mm gun, 1,738 of which were built 1975-1993, and the EE-11 URUTU – a 6x6 armoured transport of which 888 examples were manufactured. Around 75% of both production runs was for export. At the same time, in Argentina, the TAM medium tank design, drawing on the German MARDER APC, gave birth to an entire family of variants. Production totalled over 500 vehicles, but Argentina did not succeed in exporting it. A series of 6x6 designs at the time did not progress beyond prototypes. By the 1990s, Latin American production of AFVs had ground almost completely to a halt. However, interest in developing sovereign and tech- nological capability, as well as independence from foreign suppliers, has led to a return to local production and has added new nations to the mix, such as Colombia. Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP)-type vehicles were much in vogue, particularly in Brazil, Colombia and Brazil, where counter-narcot- ics and organised crime are today’s principal threats. Teething problems and high cost bases were common in most cases, leading to small pro- duction batches and only a few vehicles being successful. In most cases they have to compete with existing foreign products at far lower prices. Two factors became fundamental to development, one being the growth of local automotive capability, with Argentina, Mexico and Brazil having well-developed industries, the other being the security problems that led to development of the armour industry, especially for cars and trucks, in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and elsewhere. China attempted to enter the Latin American market, but without much success (except in Venezuela) and local industry is, therefore, still competing primarily with Based in Buenos Aires, Santiago Rivas is a veteran reporter, author, writer and publisher specialising in the Latin American aerospace, aviation, defence and security domains. He is a regular contributor to Mönch publications. Santiago Rivas The Path to Indigenous Armoured Vehicles Prototype of the CIMARRON 2 vehicle built in México in 2019, with some improvements over the old version. (Photo: José Antonio Quevedo.) First version of the CIMARRON, developed in 2014. Both use the Unimog U5000 as a basis. (Photo: Archive Santiago Rivas) Special Feature MT 5/2021 · 79 Iveco’s GUARANI with an Elbit UT30-BR turret with 30 mm gun. (Photo: Iveco)