Portugal buys leopard MBT from netherlands

[.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

 

[exported_kiwi]

Sorry for the one liner mods but; can the M113 series keep up with the 2A4/6 on the modern battlefield and are they a viable compliment to such heavily armoured, but fast, vehicles?
P.S: I realise now that this is a waaay old thread. I am just cleaning out all my email notifications...sorry. I have over 4000 emails to clear, hehe!