SANTIAGO, Chile — A judge in Brazil has suspended the signing of a contract with an Italian consortium for the delivery of Centauro II armored vehicles to the Brazilian Army.
The Army chose to buy 98 of the eight-wheel drive armored combat vehicles in a deal worth $946 million to replace its fleet of EE-9 Cascavel six-wheel drive armored vehicles, the consortium announced last month. The group, known as CIO, was formed by Iveco Defence Vehicles and Oto Melara.
The contract signing was scheduled for Dec. 5, but an order issued by Judge Wilson Alves de Souza from the Federal Regional Court of Region I has thrown a wrench in the Army’s plan. The judge’s decision stemmed from a lawsuit presented by Charles Capella de Abreu, a lawyer known for his activism. The lawyer had argued the procurement of armored vehicles is not a priority for the country given public services related to health and education have become the subjects of budget cuts.
The resolution issued by the judge said the decision to procure the vehicles “does not meet the requirements of opportunity and expediency, since the lack of a motivation, the deviation of the purpose, the illegality and even the lack of a minimum of common sense is evident.”
“You couldn’t give it another qualification, when cuts are made simultaneously in the education and health budgets due to lack of money,” the judge added.
In Capella de Abreu’s request for the court to suspend the contract signing, the lawyer said the planned acquisition “has no urgency,” as it “would replace only 5%” of the country’s fleet of armored combat vehicles. However, the lawsuit did not note the Centauro II is a particular kind of armored combat vehicle — a wheeled tank-destroyer — and that the 98 vehicles are meant to replace 24.5% of the country’s fleet of the same type.
Brazil’s current fleet dedicated to countering the threat of tanks is made up of 400-plus obsolete EE-9 Cascavels built in the 1970s. The Centauro II was to replace half of the EE-9s through a long-term process that would see the country buy a total of 221 for more than $2 billion.
The remaining EE-9s are currently undergoing refurbishment and receiving upgrades to become infantry fire support vehicles.
In response to the judge’s order, the Army’s public communications office issued a written declaration, signed by the head of the office Gen. Julio Cesar Palu Baltieri, stating the suspended contract was only meant to cover the delivery of two sample Centauro IIs for testing and assessment by the service’s Evaluation Center.
“Only after the approval of those prototypes the main contract would be signed, ordering a total of 98 vehicles for delivery along 15 years, within the financial resources made available to the land force, with a total investment estimated to amount to $946 million,” the general said.
Emilio Meneses, an independent defense analyst based in Santiago, Chile, described the court’s decision as a “political act which seeks to postpone the signing of the contract for the Centauro II until President-elect [Luiz Inácio] Lula da Silva is installed in office on Jan. 1.”
“The reasons for the suspension of the signing of the contract are laughable, as the 98 Centauro IIs are to be procured at a tag price of $946 million along 15 years, which means expending only $63 million per year, which is peanuts,” Meneses added.
Defense News contacted CIO but did not receive a response by press time.
José Higuera is a Latin America correspondent for Defense News.
