Charrua

   The Charrua is a tracked amphibious armored personnel carrier, developed in Brazil by Moto Pecas company. It is named after a native South American tribe. It is also referred as XMP-1. In the early 1980s Brazilian armed forces had a requirement to replace the ageing fleet of 500 American M59 tracked armored personnel carriers, that were delivered in the early 1950s. Brazilian MoD was looking for a vehicle similar to American M113. The project was initiated in 1983. A first prototype was built in 1985. A number of prototypes have been produced. The Charrua in large part used Brazilian technology. However the whole program was cancelled. Eventually Brazilian Army and Marine Corps adopted the American M113 and just over 600 of these APCs have been ordered.

   The Charrua is an M113-like machine. The first prototype had a box-shaped hull with vertical sides. The second prototype had sloped hull sides at the area of the personnel compartment. Both versions have large internal volume.

   Armor of this vehicle provides all-round protection against small 7.62-mm rounds and artillery shell splinters. Add-on ceramic armor was available for all-round protection against 12.7-mm rounds. With add-on armor the front arc could withstand hits from 20 mm guns.

   The baseline armored personnel carrier is armed with a shielded 12.7-mm machine gun. This weapon is operated by the vehicle commander. The first prototype had a small turret, armed with a 12.7-mm machine gun. Also there were proposed versions armed with 20- or 25-mm cannons.

   The Charrua has a crew of two and accommodates an infantry squad of 9 fully-equipped troops. Soldiers enter and leave the vehicle via rear doors. Also there are roof hatches for observation, firing and emergency exit. There were some firing ports for the personnel to fire their individual weapons.

   Initially it was planned to power the new APC by Brazilian diesel engine. However this armored personnel carrier was powered by a Saab-Scania DSI-11 diesel engine, developing 394 hp. Another engine, a Detroit Diesel 6V92TA, developing 450 hp, was proposed. Engine is located at the front of the hull. It was mated to an Allison automatic transmission. Autonomy on roads with two 270 liter fuel tanks is 500 km.

   This armored personnel carrier is amphibious. On water it is propelled by two hydrojets. Amphibious speed on water is 8 km/h. It could cross rivers and lakes that are common in Brazil.

   Originally the Charrua was intended to be produced in a whole host of variants. Some prototypes were produced before the whole program was cancelled.

Variants

   Command post vehicle;

   Armored ambulance;

   Signals vehicle with radio communications equipment;

   Armored recovery vehicle with a rear-mounted crane;

   Armored engineer vehicle with rear-mounted dozer blade and a crane;

   120-mm mortar carrier;

   Air defense vehicle with a quad turret;

   Air defense vehicle with Bofors 40 mm turret;

   Anti-aircraft missile carrier.