General Soares spoke about the contribution of the project to the sovereignty of the country, to the improvement of the operationality and logistics of the Army and to the generation of qualified jobs.
“The modernization of the Cascavel is very important for us, the Brazilian Army. […] This vehicle is the skeleton, the backbone of our Mechanized Forces at this time. And this modernization is done together with the National Industry, this is important to be emphasized, because who does not have Defense Industry, does not have sovereignty”.
The statement is from the Chief of Staff of the Army (EME), Army General Fernando José Sant’Ana Soares e Silva, during a visit to the São Paulo War Arsenal (AGSP), in Barueri (SP), to monitor the main projects and activities developed at the unit. Among them, the modernization project of the EE-9 Cascavel armored vehicle, under the responsibility of the Consortium Força Terrestre, led by AKAER.
In addition to General Soares, the presentation was attended by Division General Pedro Celso Coelho Montenegro, Commander of the 2nd Military Region (2nd RM); Division General Tales Eduardo Areco Villela, Director of Manufacturing (DF); Brigadier General Jayro Rocha Júnior, 3rd Deputy Chief of EME, and Brigadier General Marcelo Rocha Lima, Head of the Army Project Office (EPEx).
Lieutenant Colonel Fábio Musetti de Sousa, Cascavel Project Manager, presented to the delegation all the advances of the Cascavel project, which position the armoured vehicle as a reference in the modernization of military vehicles.
The project consists of a comprehensive package of modernization and new technologies, which includes new motorization and suspension; replacement of the current mechanical turret with a new automated turret, increased operational effectiveness in the use of weapons; a state-of-the-art optronic system, which will allow day and night operation and in degraded atmospheric conditions; an advanced firing computer, which will be responsible for performing all ballistic calculations, an electronic command and control system for real-time analysis of all vehicle sensors, which will allow the reading of environmental parameters that interfere with the execution of missions, as well as an air conditioning system that will considerably improve the crew’s operational environment.
In addition, the modernized EE-9 Cascavel will feature the addition of an anti-tank missile launcher in its main turret, introducing this capability in armored reconnaissance vehicles of the Brazilian Army.
General Soares emphasized that working in partnership with National Industry will provide the ability to improve the Brazilian Army’s operability and logistics.
“Akaer, the consortium that is leading [the modernization project], this company is in Brazil and is made up of Brazilians. It is our company. It generates jobs in our country and all this is very important to us. […] the Brazilian Army, together with national companies, are working together to increase the operationality of the Army, that is, to increase our capacity to defend the Homeland and improve the technological capacity of our company and increase quality jobs in our country,” said the Chief of Staff of the Army during the visit to AGSP.
For AKAER’s CEO, Cesar Silva, the expertise and portfolio in special projects engineering prove that AKAER has unique qualifications for development and innovation in various sectors of the country. “We are proud to lead this very important project for national sovereignty and committed to providing the Brazilian Army with armored vehicles that combine reliability and cutting-edge technology,” said Cesar.