Portugal buys leopard MBT from netherlands

[.pt]

Hi all,

Just saw in a newspaper an article regarding planned military expenditures for Portugal, wich stated plans in a advanced stage to buy about 36 leopard A6 from netherlands stock. Considering that currently the Portuguese army can field about 100 M60 MBT, quite old and worn out, this will be a big step in modernising mechanised forces in our country. Not knowing the numbers, what is your opinion, is this a good buy, in terms of MBT for a modern Army? Also some information on the state of these MBT and what variations they have from the "standard" version would be helpful. Guess we are going the same way as our spanish neighbours...

[swerve]

Hi all,

Just saw in a newspaper an article regarding planned military expenditures for Portugal, wich stated plans in a advanced stage to buy about 36 leopard A6 from netherlands stock. Considering that currently the Portuguese army can field about 100 M60 MBT, quite old and worn out, this will be a big step in modernising mechanised forces in our country. Not knowing the numbers, what is your opinion, is this a good buy, in terms of MBT for a modern Army? Also some information on the state of these MBT and what variations they have from the "standard" version would be helpful. Guess we are going the same way as our spanish neighbours...

Leopard A6? I presume that's Leopard 2A6. About bloody time! Everyone else west of the old Iron Curtain except Belgium has retired old MBTs in favour of Leopard 2 or their own equivalents, & at least the Belgians have made a decision & announced it - even though in their case the decision was to give up tanks in favour of wheeled AFVs.

The Leopard 2A6 is more or less what the Spanish are building for themselves. It has the L/55 120mm gun, allowing a higher m/v & thus greater penetration than can be achieved from the L/44 gun of the original Leo 2, additional armour, & improved FCS. The Dutch Leo 2A6 are not new-built as A6, but upgraded from the early model Leo 2s originally bought by the Netherlands. I believe Spain intends to upgrade the Leo 2A4 it leased from Germany to A6 standard, & keep them when the lease expires.

The additional armour varies a bit, depending on which batch. The Dutch & German A6 conversions aren't identical to the Spanish & Greek new-build. I don't know enough to describe the differences in detail.

Interesting they've decided to go the whole hog & buy the only secondhand A6 on the market, instead of A4, which is what the rest of the surplus stock consists of. 36 isn't many. Even Norway & Denmark have bought more. Maybe they'll get some A4 as well, & bring them up to the same standard.

Thanks for posting that. Interesting to hear.

[.pt]

You presume right, its the 2A6 variant.As far as the news went, i think its a done deal, because they already are setting up technical exchange officers, etc.
And right now that, and some other expenditures are on the parliament for discussion and aproval. As for the quantity, well...Portugal is a small and poor country(compare GDP with norway and see...), wich is experiencing a very tough economical crisis, so just the fact that they bought some armour at all is very relevant, besides, since 1992, when we received the last M60A3(by then already obsolete), and for the last 30 years the investment in new armour has benn almost zero, so yes for the Portuguese Army its a big step.The news also stated that these would be integrated in 3 12 MBT squadron. Financial details and formation, spare parts etc. were not disclosed.
Also please remember that lately the Portuguese Army only invested in wheeled light vehicles, and even that after very lengthy talks, so this buy is something to celebrate. Any more info on these MBT would be wellcome.

[Waylander]

Good decision. It is a very big step from M60A3 to Leopard IIA6. :)

The differences between the Spanish Leopard IIE and your Leopard IIA6:
- Spanish Leos have improved armor at the front hull.
- Spanish Leos have new TI/Optic system.
- Spanish Leos have a battlefield management system
- Spanish Leos have an integrated APU

That's nearly everything I would like to see at the Leo IIA6 :(.
Besides thisthe Leo IIA6 is a formidable first class tank.


Which type of coax/AA MG do you use in Portugal? Instead of using the MG3 like most of the Leo II users the Netherlands use a FN MG n their Leos. So you are also going to use them on the Leos or you implement your own MG.

[swerve]

More about Leopard 2 here -

http://64.26.50.215/armorsite/leo2.htm

And plenty of links to other relevant sites.

[.pt]

Thanks for the link Swerve.

About the coax mg, dont know, reports are still very vague, we´ll just have to wait and see, but for now i supose they will retain their current mg, that would be the FN. But we were always in love of german designs, so...
And just because of that, wonder what will happen in the next few years, because we really are in in need of a new rifle, if the funding becames available.
Currently several batches of H&K G3 are used all around in army and police, but their operationality is something else. Was real sad to me seeing the Portuguese plant for these and other weapons dismantled and sold.At the auction still had the oportunity to grab some "recuerdos", but everything went either to civilian or foreign arms/ammo dealers.

[Waylander]

The G3 is not a bad rifle and if you upgrade it like the Swedish did (With new optics, grenade launcher, etc) it becomes a really good weapon again.

[.pt]

Yes the G-3 is not a bad rifle, but the problem here is that many of these rifles in use or storage have gone trough extensive use (back in the 60´s and early 70´s in Africa), as well as normal use over 40 years in our armed forces, so they real are worn out, at least most batches. Wonder what would be the cost of refurbishing and upgrading them?? Perhaps it would make more sense to buy a new weapon, the Army sure thinks that way. Also they are chambered to 7,62 not NATO 5,56.The H&K G36 would be nice..or some other modern assault rifle i guess.

[contedicavour]

The L2A6 buy is certainly a huge improvement.
The only remark I have is that , as an alternative, it might have been even better to equip reco/cavalry squadrons with 8-wheel armored fighting vehicles such as the Centauro in service in Italy and Spain. Reason why is that wheeled vehicles are lighter, faster, easier to deploy in overseas missions, and can be operated on more terrains than tracked vehicles.
I understand your L2A6 are second-hand from the Netherlands, but if it came to a new buy, it would be more efficient to buy 100+ Centauros for the same cost of 35-40 L2 approx.

cheers

[.pt]

Contedicavour,

That part is already covered, the Portuguese MoD has already signed a contract with Steyr-Daimler-Puch to purchase some 260 units of the Pandur family of wheelhed armoured vehicles. These will be assembled locally, originating some 15(!!) subtypes as this vehicle will equip not only the army, but also the navy.
some variants will include 12.7mm MG up to 120 mm mortar, all based around the steyr SP 30 turret.
I do remember that in 2004/5 we also bought some italian wheeled vehicles in a hurry for the deployment of our Police in Iraq, dont know numbers, type or company. But these were an interim need, by special agreement, so not to be included in regular buys.
The reason the Portuguese army is buying those Leopard MBT, is that it wants to retain some heavy firepower in armoured terms, for possible deployments in a UN frame or Nato. Nothing to do with our spanish neighbours.

[contedicavour]

Contedicavour,

That part is already covered, the Portuguese MoD has already signed a contract with Steyr-Daimler-Puch to purchase some 260 units of the Pandur family of wheelhed armoured vehicles. These will be assembled locally, originating some 15(!!) subtypes as this vehicle will equip not only the army, but also the navy.
some variants will include 12.7mm MG up to 120 mm mortar, all based around the steyr SP 30 turret.
I do remember that in 2004/5 we also bought some italian wheeled vehicles in a hurry for the deployment of our Police in Iraq, dont know numbers, type or company. But these were an interim need, by special agreement, so not to be included in regular buys.
The reason the Portuguese army is buying those Leopard MBT, is that it wants to retain some heavy firepower in armoured terms, for possible deployments in a UN frame or Nato. Nothing to do with our spanish neighbours.

I understand the logic behind L2A6 acquisition.
The wheeled fighting vehicles I was talking about wasn't AIFVs but 105- or 120-mm gun 8x8 vehicles, real tank busters if needed, though lighter and faster than MBTs.
Several armies are considering replacing part or all of their MBTs with these vehicles (such as the Centauro, but also like the French AMX-10RC) which are better suited to overseas deployment than 60-ton behemoths.

cheers

[Waylander]

Maybe Portugal is forced by NATO to do so. For example Germany is committed to have one fully operational tank division ready for NATO use if NATO is under attack.
Could be the same with Portugal only in smaller numbers.

[.pt]

I can also see your logic behind that type of vehicles, i looked them up, and indeed they seem to be a very good option if you need some very mobile antitank guns, for the type of deployment we are talking about. Certainly in terms of cost, mobility, and i think maintenance they are good options.I think the problem here is funding and the army probably made an option, because right now, Navy is getting the lion share in investments. But considering that right now deployments are being made to East timor(police), afghanistan and Bosnia or Kosovo (all very small detachments) certainly that would be my choice. My question is, and what about survivability against modern MBT, such as Abrams, Leopard and challenger? these beasts can also drive fast, shoot far aaccurately and fast? If we are talking about old soviet designs that are current in almost every 3rd world country, with zero maintenance, outdated armour, guns and ammo, not very sofisticated FCS, and poorly trained crews, ok.
Waylander, about that dont know, perhaps so. My guess is they thought, well, instead of having 100 M60A3 MBT wich are obsolete, for the wich we cannot provid crews with apropriate training(funding, too many MBT), why dont we buy a decently modern MBT in small number, fund maintenance,crew training and ordnance properly, and have a small, but efective force? it all falls in line with the recent change from a conscript army to a professional army, smaller, but more efective, or so they think.Also the mission wich the Army is likely to be charged nowadays is not traditional defense warfare against our esteemed tradional neighbours and enemy, the spanish;) but rather international deployments in suport of Nato or UN, or whatever peacekeeping missions apear (just like East timor), so theres a need for smaller but more modern forces, instead of sending our soldiers with little less tha slings:ohwell

[contedicavour]

I can also see your logic behind that type of vehicles, i looked them up, and indeed they seem to be a very good option if you need some very mobile antitank guns, for the type of deployment we are talking about. Certainly in terms of cost, mobility, and i think maintenance they are good options.I think the problem here is funding and the army probably made an option, because right now, Navy is getting the lion share in investments. But considering that right now deployments are being made to East timor(police), afghanistan and Bosnia or Kosovo (all very small detachments) certainly that would be my choice. My question is, and what about survivability against modern MBT, such as Abrams, Leopard and challenger? these beasts can also drive fast, shoot far aaccurately and fast? If we are talking about old soviet designs that are current in almost every 3rd world country, with zero maintenance, outdated armour, guns and ammo, not very sofisticated FCS, and poorly trained crews, ok.
Waylander, about that dont know, perhaps so. My guess is they thought, well, instead of having 100 M60A3 MBT wich are obsolete, for the wich we cannot provid crews with apropriate training(funding, too many MBT), why dont we buy a decently modern MBT in small number, fund maintenance,crew training and ordnance properly, and have a small, but efective force? it all falls in line with the recent change from a conscript army to a professional army, smaller, but more efective, or so they think.Also the mission wich the Army is likely to be charged nowadays is not traditional defense warfare against our esteemed tradional neighbours and enemy, the spanish;) but rather international deployments in suport of Nato or UN, or whatever peacekeeping missions apear (just like East timor), so theres a need for smaller but more modern forces, instead of sending our soldiers with little less tha slings:ohwell

If a L2A6 or M1A2 were facing a Centauro or AMX-10RC, these wheeled tank busters would have to rely on shooting first and leveraging higher speed to run away (hopefully using the terrain's features to hide as soon as possible). The Centauro exists with 120-mm gun (though the regular Centauros equipping 9 Italian cavalry regiments have 105-mm) which is comparable to the MBTs' main gun, so it does have good chances of destroying a MBT if it shoots first.

cheers

[Waylander]

The problem in this thoughts is that everywhere else than flat terrain and streets the normal MBT is faster and more maneuverable. And he is also able of using the terrain.
One of the main problems of these vehicles is that there are much more weapons which are able to destroy them, especially by infantry.
So they are lacking the punch for a powerfull offensive and the steadtfastness o hold out in the defense against a major enemy.
I would not bet my live on being always the first to hit the opponent. ;)

But as said before for missions in Africa, etc. they are wonderfull.

[contedicavour]

The problem in this thoughts is that everywhere else than flat terrain and streets the normal MBT is faster and more maneuverable. And he is also able of using the terrain.
One of the main problems of these vehicles is that there are much more weapons which are able to destroy them, especially by infantry.
So they are lacking the punch for a powerfull offensive and the steadtfastness o hold out in the defense against a major enemy.
I would not bet my live on being always the first to hit the opponent. ;)

But as said before for missions in Africa, etc. they are wonderfull.

I agree the Centauros' (or similar vehicles) purpose is not to go dead against MBTs in a classical showdown, because they would suffer many more hits than the more armored opponents.
The one thing I disagree with is manoevrability : Centauros are faster and more at ease in more than flat terrain and urban environment. With their all-terrain 8 wheels they are perfectly fine in mountaineous areas for example. Actually the Centauros were built for the rugged terrains of the Appenines and the Alpine valleys in Italy. I've seen them climbing 30+° up rocky hillsides... the only terrain where I'm pretty sure the MBT is unbeatable is the type of desert that has high sand dunes.

cheers

[Waylander]

A tracked vehicle is definitely more manueverable than a wheeled one in every harder terrain. For example the Leopard II is able to climb a 60% grade.

Only size could become a problem in mountaineous areas but for real mountain troops there are other vehicles like BV-290, Wiesel, Mules.

[gf0012-aust]

A tracked vehicle is definitely more manueverable than a wheeled one in every harder terrain. For example the Leopard II is able to climb a 60% grade.

Only size could become a problem in mountaineous areas but for real mountain troops there are other vehicles like BV-290, Wiesel, Mules.

agree. ADF's experience with wheeled armoured in East Timor hilighted the fact that tracks were also better in boggy terrain. Also Aust Centurions were able to negotiate Vietnamese jungle where its debatable that even current wheeled armour would get through.

the advantage of tracks over wheels in those environments is that the ground pressure is distributed for the vehicle unoiformly - whereas wheels create multiple points of potential friction and inertia.

[Big-E]

How can Holland afford to give up 1/3 of her MBTs?

[Waylander]

1/3 is not that much. There is no red army trying to push right to the channel. The target is to be able to do oversea missions together with allies and to conserve the armored warfare knowledge and capabilities.
For example during cold war we had thousands of tanks in Germany. Next year there will be round about 350 remaining MBTs. ;)

[contedicavour]

1/3 is not that much. There is no red army trying to push right to the channel. The target is to be able to do oversea missions together with allies and to conserve the armored warfare knowledge and capabilities.
For example during cold war we had thousands of tanks in Germany. Next year there will be round about 350 remaining MBTs. ;)

Only 350 ? Where will the other 2000 Leo 2 end up then ? I know of a few second-hand for Spain, Poland (180) Greece (180) and Turkey (300), but there are so many others that would not be used !

[Grand Danois]

Only 350 ? Where will the other 2000 Leo 2 end up then ? I know of a few second-hand for Spain, Greece and Turkey, but there are so many others that would not be used !

57 German Leo 2A5's ended up in Denmark replacing 230 Leo 1A5's. It seems to be the same picture across Europe.

[contedicavour]

A tracked vehicle is definitely more manueverable than a wheeled one in every harder terrain. For example the Leopard II is able to climb a 60% grade.

Only size could become a problem in mountaineous areas but for real mountain troops there are other vehicles like BV-290, Wiesel, Mules.

I just checked on http://www.army-technology.com/projects/centauro/
and it says :

The Centauro armoured fighting vehicles can negotiate gradients up to 60%, fording depth of 1.5m without preparation, and have a turning radius of 9m.

I checked in the same site for the same data on the Leo 2 but didn't find any. So I checked on our Ariete MBT and it says it can negotiate gradients of up to 60°, so same as the Centauro.

A comparison in speeds gives 100+ km/h for the Centauro and 65 km/h for the Ariete.

All of this to explain why I feel that the Centauro (and similar vehicles such as AMX10) are well suited to most missions usually assigned to MBTs, except facing other MBTs in a traditional tank battle.

cheers

[Waylander]

Just believe me. I trained together with wheeled vehicles of many kinds and none of them were able to go along with my Leopard if there is something other than street or flat, dry terrain.
Tracked vehicles are also better suited against enemy fire directed against them with smaller calibres (20mm, etc.)

Our Leopards went also to Poland, Finland and Chile.
350 is the active number. Some hundred are going into the depot.

[swerve]

Only 350 ? Where will the other 2000 Leo 2 end up then ? I know of a few second-hand for Spain, Poland (180) Greece (180) and Turkey (300), but there are so many others that would not be used !

Sales of 2nd hand Leopard 2
Buyer - Number - Seller
Sweden 160 (Germany)
Austria 115 (Netherlands)
Denmark 52 (Germany)
Norway 52 (Netherlands)
Finland 124 (Germany)
Poland 128 (Germany)
Greece 183 (Germany)
Turkey 298 (Germany)
Chile 100 (Germany)
Spain 108 (Germany)
Portugal 36 (Netherlands)

New sales -
Bundeswehr 2125 (972 remaining)
Netherlands 445 (242 remaining)
Switzerland 370
Sweden 120
Spain 219
Greece 170

Switzerland is offering about 100 for sale. Sweden may sell the 160 secondhand Leo 2A4. Netherlands & Germany still have some for sale.

[.pt]

Well someone here said something about the small number the Portuguese Army is buying of Leopard A26 MBT, after seeing the last post, i´d say we are just wayting for the Dutch/german MBT sales season to open, so we can purchase some more at rock bottom prices:D
Nevertheless 350 operational MBt for a country like Germany just seems way too small a number for me, specially after we just lost the 3rd place in the World cup to them:wah

[Waylander]

Wooooohaaaaaa, Paaaaarty. Winner!!!!!! :rolling

Back to topic ;)

All german tanks which could be bought are not Leopard 2A5/A6 but A4. This is not a bad tank and would go against T-72s and older T-80 with it every day but it is getting old by now.

Our 350 tanks are operating in 6 btls. I also think that this is the absolut minimum but you know the budget problems of every european country.

[Soner1980]

But selling tanks is not so much money for the German mega economy....

Btw Polish army has seen that the A4's are also obsolete, but for Turkey it is the damn most modern tank in inventory. I saw on TV that a Turkish general said that the M48 was a good tank but the M60 is better. No way. The T1 is only accurate in firing and economic fuel usage. And weak armor makes it cath fire too fast. Also reliable but this tank has to phased out 15 years earlier in Turkish service. Some of them are also used in the Cyprus war, so old...

Leo-2A4 should be upgraded with some extra frontal armor and a longer barrel to come close to the A6.

[Waylander]

Every cent is necessary for us! ;)

And don't talk bad about my former baby. :p: :D

[contedicavour]

Every cent is necessary for us! ;)

And don't talk bad about my former baby. :p: :D

The L2A4 is still a formidable asset against armies equipped with T-72s.
I just wish the Italian Army replaced the remaining Leo1s with German second hand L2A4.
Unfortunately no more Arietes will be built, and the remaining Leo1s are likely to be replaced by Centauros (8x8 wheeled armored vehicle) with a 120mm turret.

cheers

[.pt]

Contedicavour,

You mean Italy is giving up all of its Leopard 1?What type and strength of MBT will you retain?

[swerve]

Contedicavour,

You mean Italy is giving up all of its Leopard 1?What type and strength of MBT will you retain?

Italy has ca 200 Ariete. 120mm smoothbore gun, 50+ tons - usual sort of thing.

[contedicavour]

Contedicavour,

You mean Italy is giving up all of its Leopard 1?What type and strength of MBT will you retain?

We're planning on replacing the last 120 Leo1-A5 with Centauro with 120mm turret. Personally I would prefer 120 Leo2-A4.
We have 5 tank regiments (belonging to the armored cavalry as the 9 regiments with Centauro), 3 in the elite Ariete armored brigade (all with Ariete MBT), 1 in the Garibaldi mech brigade and 1 in the Pinerolo armored brigade. All are ready and tested in Iraq.

cheers

[oskarm]

Do you have more specific information about TO&Es of Italian army? Some time ago I have found that armored Brigade composed of 3 armored battalions and 2 mech. and mech. brigade 3 mech. and 2 armored. How the battalions, coys., platoons are organized?

[contedicavour]

Do you have more specific information about TO&Es of Italian army? Some time ago I have found that armored Brigade composed of 3 armored battalions and 2 mech. and mech. brigade 3 mech. and 2 armored. How the battalions, coys., platoons are organized?

We've got no more battallions, only regiments.
Each regiment is approx 1,200 strong and, for the cavalry/armored regiments, has 54 MBTs or Centauros. This is enough for 4 companies of 12+1 (company commander's), and the 53rd and 54th which are regiment commander's and vice-commander's tanks.
This explains why we have 3 regiments with the Ariete MBT (the remaining 38 are at the cavalry school in Lecce or in reserve), 2 with Leo1-A5 (total 120), and 9 with Centauro (here it's a bit more complicated, 3 companies use Centauro and the 4th has Puma 6x6 or 4x4, waiting for Centauro VBC 8x8, so a total of 9x41=369 Centauros and 9x13=117 Pumas).
Brigade wise, we have 2 armored/tank, the Ariete and the Pinerolo, and 4 mechanized (Garibaldi, Granatieri, Sassari, Aosta ), then 2 Alpine (Taurinense, Julia), 1 paratroopers (Folgore), 1 helo/FRC (Friuli), 1 Marines (San Marco, joint with Navy), 2 artillery (1 with SAMs), and 1 cavalry (Pozzuolo del Friuli). Each brigade has 5-6 regiments, incl artillery and logistics.

cheers

[marcvs75]

In the new defence plans of the Dutch landforces only two mechanised brigades will remain. Both contains one tankbatallion and two mechanised infantry batallions en some supporting units (recon). This means that the Dutch landforces will have 84 leopard 2A6 in active duty (of a total of 110)

The infantry en recon units will receive the CV9035 (184 total) en Fennek (410 total)

[Waylander]

410 Fenneks is a big purchase if you look at the rest of your mechanized forces. Especially because Fennek is only usefull as a reconnassaince vehicle with no counter reconnassaince capabilities.

[KWSN-Men]

Only 350 ? Where will the other 2000 Leo 2 end up then ? I know of a few second-hand for Spain, Poland (180) Greece (180) and Turkey (300), but there are so many others that would not be used !

I am sure the Greek Army is very interested in some of them. ;)

Plans are eventually having more than 600 Leo 2's, with the used A4's being gradually upgraded to A6 level over the years.

Also the plans are to lower the number of MBT's to about 1100.

[marcvs75]

It is indeed an big number. But more types will be in service: a recon, a forward artillery controller and a medium range anti-tank variant

[Waylander]

We also use them as FAC but not as tank hunter. With which weapon are they gonna have?

To go back to topic.
Are there tank hunter units in the army of Portugal to support the infantry against armored threats?

[.pt]

let me see if i have understood your question, we have currently some number of M113 apc with tows i think, but i will have to confirm, and we signed a deal with production start late this year i think of steyr Pandur wheeled APC with lots of variants, because they will go to all 3 branches, army, navy and airforce but i dont know if there are missile or gun variants. Ass for specialised tank hunters, light, as centauro, or amx i really dont know,but i think not.
Also for recoiless guns as carl gustf or missiles,really dontknow, but i will dig that info and post later.
Regards.
.pt

PS: sorry if i missed the meaning of your question

[Waylander]

Thanks.
That's exactly what I meant. :)

[.pt]

After some hurried digging this is what i could find:
Portuguese army:
- M113 APC, some 520 vehicles were bought, second hand, in various variants, some 300-350 remain operational, but the variant we are interested,the M901 ITV with TOw launcher, only some 4 or 5 exist. negligible
- Panhard M-11 VBl, light scout vehicle, about 40 units, of wich some have Milan launcher.
- Cadillac gage V 150with 90 mm gun in turret, 15 units. negligible oldie.
Soon to be replaced with pandur II, SP 30 turret with 105 mm gun, number of units unknown, but believed to be very small. problems with turret certification.
So basically the cupboard is very bare. hope this was useful.
.pt

[Waylander]

Thanks alot.
So if your army has to face some armor threat (Which could also happen in oversea missions) your infantry has to rely on its own ATGMs and RPGs.
I think it is ok if you have just such a small amount of MBTs but there should be some mobile AT systems to back up the infantry.

[Pedro Monteiro]

After some hurried digging this is what i could find:
Portuguese army:
- M113 APC, some 520 vehicles were bought, second hand, in various variants, some 300-350 remain operational, but the variant we are interested,the M901 ITV with TOw launcher, only some 4 or 5 exist. negligible
- Panhard M-11 VBl, light scout vehicle, about 40 units, of wich some have Milan launcher.
- Cadillac gage V 150with 90 mm gun in turret, 15 units. negligible oldie.
Soon to be replaced with pandur II, SP 30 turret with 105 mm gun, number of units unknown, but believed to be very small. problems with turret certification.
So basically the cupboard is very bare. hope this was useful.
.pt
Some notes: only the Army and the Marines will recieve the Pandur II armoured vehicles. In the portuguese Army, they'll replace the veteran Chaimite and the V-150. Actually, the V-150 fleet was recieved in 1991 - the vehicles were new, as I could confirm by their plates and serial numbers. The M113 fleet will suffer an upgrade and, according the plan, will operate with the Leopard 2 A6 fleet.

Currently, we have about 60 Bravia Chaimite (V-200 and V-600) in operational state, 38 Panhard VBL M-11 and 15 Cadillac Gage V-150.

All the best,
Pedro Monteiro

[Pedro Monteiro]

The L2A6 buy is certainly a huge improvement.
The only remark I have is that , as an alternative, it might have been even better to equip reco/cavalry squadrons with 8-wheel armored fighting vehicles such as the Centauro in service in Italy and Spain. Reason why is that wheeled vehicles are lighter, faster, easier to deploy in overseas missions, and can be operated on more terrains than tracked vehicles.
I understand your L2A6 are second-hand from the Netherlands, but if it came to a new buy, it would be more efficient to buy 100+ Centauros for the same cost of 35-40 L2 approx.

cheers
There's an option for 33 Pandur II armed with a 105mm gun turret. The prototype - built in Portugal by Fabrequipa - will be tested in November 2007.

All the best,
Pedro Monteiro