Brazil mulls upgrades for VBTP-MSR Guarani 6×6 vehicles

via Janes

The Brazilian Army is finalising a series of studies aimed at improving the VBTP-MSR Guarani 6×6 armoured vehicle.

The studies are being done by personnel from the army's technical, administrative, operational, and finance sectors, and are to consider updates and potentially adding new technologies, the army told Jane's .

The army declined to say if the upgrade studies included the vehicle's mobility, command and control, survivability, firepower, or habitability. The army said the project's scope is to be defined after studies are concluded and a decision is made. The effort, known as the Guarani 2.0 project, falls under the aegis of 'Army Strategic Plan 2020-2023'.

The service is receiving 1,580 6×6s as part of the Guarani programme that purchased the vehicles in November 2016 to complement 203 platforms ordered between 2012 and 2015 from Iveco Defence Vehicles. The vehicle is manufactured at the company's plant of Sete Lagoas in the State of Minas Gerais.

A total of 424 6×6s were received, the army said. Between 5 and 6 vehicles are produced monthly and about 60 annually, a spokesperson for Iveco Defence Vehicles' Brazilian operation told Jane's . Deliveries are scheduled to be completed by 2040.

The programme, which involves other armoured vehicles efforts, contributes to transforming Brazil's motorised infantry units into mechanised infantry units, and to modernise the mechanised cavalry.

Twelve versions are currently planned: reconnaissance vehicle, troop carrier, 120 mm mortar carrier, recovery vehicle, command-post vehicle, ambulance, air-defence, repair, anti-tank missile carrier, surveillance radar carrier, fire direction centre, and forward-observation vehicle. Development of a mortar variant VBCMrt-MSR (Viatura Blindada de Combate Morteiro-Média Sobre Rodas) is a top priority, with one prototype and 100 production vehicles planned.