The Brazilian magazine "Tecnologia & Defesa" reported that on April 27, 2023, the Government of Ukraine, through its military attache at the Embassy of Ukraine in Brazil, sent an official request to the Brazilian Ministry of Defense for the purchase of up to 450 VBTP-MR Guarani (6x6) wheeled armored personnel carriers for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
VBTP-MR Guarani (6x6) armored personnel carriers manufactured by Iveco Veículos de Defesa (IDV) of Iveco Group, delivered to the Northern Command of the Brazilian Army, March 2023 (c) tecnodefesa.com.brThe document addressed to Brazilian Defense Minister Jose Musio Monteiro contains a request for the purchase of up to 450 Guarani armored personnel carriers produced in Brazil in a medical version, which will be intended for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian request states that the vehicles will be painted orange and yellow and are intended for the evacuation of civilians from the conflict zone and for transporting the wounded from the combat zone to hospitals.
The purchase must be paid for by the "allies of Brazil and Ukraine" in cash, while the Ukrainian side is ready to guarantee that the vehicles will not be used directly for combat missions, but for humanitarian purposes [haha].
It is reported that during 2022, Ukraine several times turned to the Brazilian side with requests regarding the possibility of acquiring Guarani armored personnel carriers in the combat version - in particular, on September 23, Ukraine submitted a request for the possibility of purchasing from 100 to 1,500 vehicles in the linear version for the armed forces of Ukraine - but so far these requests have been rejected every time by the Brazilian side for reasons of "maintaining neutrality".
Now the "call" for the acquisition of Guarani is made from the other side. Brazilian media note that currently the Guarani medical variant (design designation VBTE AMB) is not in mass production, however, according to the manufacturer Iveco Veículos de Defesa (IDV), it can be developed and put into production in a short time.
Recall that the VBTP-MR APC (Viatura Blindada de Transporte de Tropas - Média sobre Rodas) Guarani (6x6) was developed by the Iveco group for the Brazilian army under a special contract in 2007, representing essentially a shortened triaxial version of the Iveco SUPERAV (8x8) armored personnel carrier. Serial production of VBTP-MR under the designation Guarani for the Brazilian army has been conducted since 2012 in Brazil at the Iveco Veículos de Defesa (IDV) enterprise of the Iveco Group in the Network-Lagoas (Minas Gerais state). In total, the Brazilian army, according to an agreement signed in December 2009 with the Iveco group, planned to purchase 2044 VBTP-MR Guarani vehicles in various configurations by 2031. To date, the Brazilian army has contracted 1,580 vehicles, of which 600 units were delivered by the end of September 2022.
According to Brazilian sources, IDV's production facilities are designed to assemble up to 200 Guarani armored personnel carriers per year, however, due to budget constraints, no more than 60 vehicles are manufactured per year for the Brazilian army, so there are significant reserves for possible export deliveries. In 2017, 10 Guarani armored personnel carriers were delivered by Iveco Group to Lebanon, and in 2021, the Israeli company Elbit Systems, as the lead contractor, signed contracts for the supply of Guarani with its weapons and equipment to the Philippines (28 vehicles, the first five delivered in 2022) and Ghana (11). In January 2023, a preliminary agreement of intent was signed on Brazil's supply of 156 Guarani armored personnel carriers to Argentina.
