Next week  at the LAAD (Latin America Aero & Defence) Exhibition Iveco will present a mock-up of its forthcoming VBTP-MR 6x6 armoured personnel carrier which will be built at its Betim plant and is destined for use by the Brazilian MOD.

IVECO will present the mock-up of the new Brazilian MOD destined 6x6 armoured personnel carrier (VBTP-MR in Portuguese) at the forthcoming LAAD (Latin America Aero & Defence) Exhibition that will open on April 14th.

The mock-up is part of a contract signed in December 2007 between IVECO L.A. and the Brazilian MOD to co-develop a project which has been called Wheeled Medium Armoured Personnel Carrier–Basic Platform (VBTP-MR). The project will be supported by IVECO Defence Vehicles, situated in Northern Italy, which is dedicated to designing and manufacturing vehicles for military applications.

With this support, the VBTP-MR vehicle will be developed and manufactured at IVECO LA’s Sete Lagoas plant in Minas Gerais (Brazil). The prototype of the new Brazilian 6x6 armoured personnel carrier (VBTP-MR) will be delivered by the end of 2009, and will be extensively tested by the Brazilian Army starting from April 2010. Then 16 additional units will be produced and tested up to 2011, when a decision will be taken on a final order for a VBTP-MR fleet for the Brazilian Army. The vehicles will then replace the EE-11 Urutu VBTP-MR fleet currently in use by the Brazilian Army. The first 16 vehicles will be manufactured principally using imported components, but local content will be gradually increased to over 60% in order to reduce production and maintenance costs. IVECO believes that this can be achieved through the integration of its growing supplier base in Brazil, where the company produces around 15.000 trucks per year plus diesel engines.

IVECO’s new VBTP-MR is a 18-tonne vehicle, with amphibious capacity at 17.5 tonnes. It is powered by a FPT diesel engine coupled to an automatic gearbox, and can carry a crew of 10 dismounts plus the driver. Outline specifications include a length of 6.9m, a 2.7m width and a height of 2.34m. It can be fitted with a variety of remote-controlled weapon stations and is airportable by C-130 Hercules.

Pietro Borgo, General Manager of IVECO Defence Vehicles, stated “The aim of the project is to develop a highly specialized knowledge base in military vehicles at IVECO LA and to establish an IVECO Defence Vehicles presence in Brazil which can become a partner for the Brazilian Army.”

Alberto Mayer, Institutional Relations Director of IVECO Latin America, stated that the VBTP-MR vehicle project is running according to the original plan. “We are working very well with our partners from the Brazilian Army. We believe this is an important and very promising project not only to meet this local requirement but also because it offers great export potential”.

IVECO Defence Vehicles is well known for the application of advanced automotive innovations and leading edge protection solutions to purpose-built designs, resulting in a full range of trucks, armoured, protected and multirole vehicles. IVECO Defence Vehicles’ plant is situated in Bolzano in Northern Italy, the site of the factory originally housing the prestigious producer of military vehicles, Lancia, was founded in 1937. The company has developed a vast international network giving life to a technical and commercial expertise at a world-wide level. IVECO Defence Vehicles boasts an organisation of dedicated research and development, having available a pool of vehicle expert engineers in the IVECO HQ in Torino.

The marketing, production and aftersales organisation are also based within the Bolzano Facility. Supporting these activities is an additional factory, based in Vittorio Veneto, a centre of excellence for protection. In recent years, IVECO Defence Vehicles has focused on meeting the demands both of its domestic Italian market and of export customers, The company’s success in this latter area in particular has been dramatic, with export sales growing from 20 percent of the total in the mid 1990s to a figure of 70 percent today. More than 30,000 IVECO vehicles are now in military service worldwide.