Don,
For
03/2014 UNITS 576 & 577 with UT-30, they are good as I submitted them. Also with
13 at 03/2013 my thinking was and I believe this came up when submitted in my last "Patch Post" they were enough to stand up a unit, my thinking now is a "
company" of them if you will.
The following from ref below...
"
Aug/Sept 2014: State of the program. At the end of September Iveco delivered the
100th of a total of 128 vehicles to be delivered by the end of 2014 (16 pilot VBTPs, 86 evaluation vehicles + 26 addons). The 2015 budget sets aside BRL 200M ($82M) for 56 vehicles.
An entry on the
Brazilian Army’s weblog explained in August how the Guarani was
“finally operational.” The 33º BI Mec (Batalhão de Infantaria Mecanizado – Mechanized Infantry Battalion)
received its 1st 13 vehicles back in March 2014 and should have 42 of them by 2015. They are being tested in the southern state of Paraná near Paraguay and seem to meet expectations. The vehicle can cross streams as expected, though it has a slight tendency to sink further on its right due to the engine’s position.
Sources: Defensa.com: “Iveco Latin America construye el blindado
VBTP-MR Guaraní número 100” | Exército Brasileiro:
“Guarani finalmente operacional” [in Portuguese]."
From SIPRI Israel to Bazil timeframe 2000-2017 with no
REMAX showing...
"
Israel
R: Brazil (216) UT-25/UT-30 IFV turret (2010) 2014-2016 (30)
$260 m deal; UT-30 version; for VBTP-MR IFV produced in Brazil"
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...-brazil-06048/
Why no
REMAX? Well to start with they should have them already, again from ref above...
Oct 24/12: REMAX RWS. Elbit’s Brazilian subsidiary Ares Aeroespacial e Defensa Ltda. announces a $25 million contract to supply its stabilized REMAX remote weapon stations to the Brazilian Army. This is the 1st production order, and deliveries
will be made from
2012-2014.
They didn't get them because of Brazils economic crisis (There he goes again about economics! Well it matters you can't afford to but it or maintain w/o a good economy. Look what happened to the
ROOKIVALK AH of the
SANDF, grounded the whole fleet for
18 months, long enough that I made the case at the time to change it's dates for that period of time and we did. When the economy improved they had enough financing to not only get them flying again but also accomplished a
significant upgrade to them as well, also entered in the game.
The cost to South Africa? Well they were going to show case them at the opening/closing ceremonies when they hosted the "
World Cup" and couldn't. There were
at least 3 countries of record (Turkey being one of them and bought the
AW-129's (From memory.) instead.) looking to buy it during this time, and timing is everything, and they
didn't. To this day, and this is one of the best AH helos out there,
none have been exported.
More on Brazils issues...
https://www.thebalance.com/brazil-s-economy-3306343
This is just one part of the formula I use in submitting dates. Not always right but, generally pretty close.
Don I hope this answered your question,, and if you missed it, also in the first ref above, they did an update dated last fall I believe, showing the contracts were signed for the
REMAX. This along with my last post should work for the
VBTP-MR with REMAX as submitted. I think you might have missed "
COPY" UNIT 576.
Regards,
Pat