The Army’s Strategic Program Armored Forces will gain an important reinforcement. Twenty 6×6 Special Armored Rescue Vehicles, model MaxxPro Recovery Vehicle, have been acquired. Produced by the North American company Navistar Defense, they are equipped with a rear “hang glider” and a hydraulic boom with electronic access, supporting 42 tons of towing with a drag of almost 23 tons.
“This is a capacity that, until then, did not exist in the Guarani fleet. This acquisition, through the U.S. Department of Defense foreign military sales program, will increase this fundamental support to combat power, especially with regard to advanced force maneuver activities and support to the rear in second-echelon maintenance tasks,” stated the Army Vice Chief of Staff, Division General Hertz Pires do Nascimento. The new vehicles will be distributed to the logistical battalions that make up the mechanized infantry and cavalry brigades, as well as to schools and more isolated mechanized military organizations.
Characteristics of the Armored Special Emergency Vehicle (VBE Soc)
The MaxxPro Recovery Vehicle is a battlefield rescue armored vehicle. It resists fire from 5.56 and 7.62 mm caliber weapons, artillery shrapnel, mines, and improvised explosive devices. It is equipped with a MaxxForce 8.9 L, turbo inter-cooled diesel engine with 450 hp and 1,627 Nm torque. The transmission is a six-speed automatic and the front suspension is independent.
It has a towing capacity of 42 tons (PBTC); 22.6 tons of drag on the steel cable; 15.8 tons with the use of the rear “hang glider”; 27.2 tons of cargo lifting on the crane, with hydraulic lance; and a towing and drag support that meets the vehicles of the Guarani family.
Strategic Program for the Armored Forces
The acquisition is part of the Armored Forces Program, which is part of the Army’s Strategic Portfolio and provides the Land Force with a renewed armored fleet. The initiative provides technological and quality advances, aiming at the maintenance of the operational capacity, as well as the development of the Defense Industrial Base, through technology transfer and the technical qualification of national manpower.
The purchase process for the 6×6 Armored Special Emergency Vehicle is the result of a planning process started in 2018, which included strategic and feasibility studies. There are several steps for an acquisition of this size, as determined by the Brazilian Army’s standards for obtaining a system of military employment material, such as the General Instructions for the Management of the Life Cycle of Military Employment Systems and Materials.
With the acquisition of modern wheeled and tracked armored vehicles and their component subsystems, such as weapons and communications systems, the goal is to transform the Motorized Infantry into Mechanized Infantry and to modernize the Mechanized Cavalry and the Armored Infantry and Cavalry. All phases of the Program seek integration with the Army’s other Programs and Strategic Projects, in particular with the Integrated Border Monitoring System (SISFRON) and the Protection of Society Program (PROTEGER), as well as increasing integration with other Forces.
Source: Brazilian Army Communication Center *** Translated by the DEFCONPress FYI Team ***