Brazil Looks to Renew, Expand its Amphibious APC Fleet
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In August 2012, the US DSCA announced [PDF] Brazil’s official request to buy 26 Assault Amphibious Vehicles with Reliability, Availability and Maintainability/ Rebuild to Standard modifications (AAV RAM/RS), including ancillary equipment and machine guns. The Brazilians will also upgrade their existing fleet to the RAM/RS configuration, along with associated weapons and ammunition, spare and repair parts, support equipment, tools and test equipment, and other U.S. Government and contractor support.
About 10 militaries still use the AAV7, or pre-1984 LVTP variants…
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This includes the US Marines, whose EFV program to replace their fleet of over 1,000 “Amtracs” ended in failure. They come in personnel carrier (AAVP-7), command (AAVC-7) and armored recovery (AAVR-7) variants. Brazil reportedly has a fleet of 39 AAVP-7A1s, 9 older LVTP-7A1s, 2 LVTC-7A1 command vehicles, and 2 LVTR-7A1 recovery vehicles.
The estimated cost is up to $233 million, but the final total will depend on contract negotiations. The DSCA says that “the AAVs will be procured through a competitive procurement,” though BAE is the only real supplier. The upgrade kits, on the other hand, may be more open to tender. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale, and implementation won’t require any more U.S. Government or contractor representatives in Brazil.