Latin America

Plasan has presented today the first of six Guarder high performance armored vehicles ordered by the Sao Paolo police department. The order for the development and delivery of six vehicles for about $9.5 million was announced in June 2014. The vehicles will equip the special weapons and tactics team (SWAT) of the largest city in Brazil.

Brazil plans to withdraw from service 12 Mirage 2000C/B fighters operating with the 1st Air Defense Group, currently providing the mainstay of the country’s air-defense force. The jet fighters also known as ‘Jaguars’ are operating from Annapolis, about 140 km from the capital Brasilia. These fighters were acquired from French Air Force surplus in 2005 for $74 millions to...

Embraer Defense and Security today delivered the first EMB 145 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) class of aircraft to the Government of India.

Ares, a Brazilian subsidiary of Elbit Systems will supply the Brazilian Armed Forces remotely Controled Weapon Stations (RCWS). REMAX is a stabilized weapon station for 12.7/7.62 mm machine guns that was Specifically designed by Ares to meet Brazilian Army requirements as part of the VBTP program. The system have been successfully tested and fielded in Brazilian Army Guarani 6X6 vehicles.. Some of the Brazilian VBTP vehicles are also armed with a larger weapon station mounting the 30mm automatic cannon.

LAAD 2015 Report: Armored vehicles and protection systems

The Italian vehicle manufacturer Iveco has signed a contract to sell 80 vehicles to the Lebanese military and police. The deal, worth about 30 million euros, includes 25 light armored vehicles and six mine protected armored vehicles to be produced in Italy and ten Brazilian produced VBTP-MR amphibious armored personnel carriers. The remaining vehicles include unarmored military trucks.

Brazil is expected to spend US$20.83 billion on arms procurements in the next five years.

Elbit Systems is presenting the newest member of the MUSIC Directional Infrared Countermeasure (DIRCM) systems at the 2013 Paris Airshow. Defense-Update reports. The new, compact system dubbed ‘mini-MUSIC’ is designed to protect small rotary and fixed-wing aircraft against heat seeking Ground to Air Missiles (MANPADS) threats. In 2012 the company has demonstrated the C-MUSIC pod system in flight, mounted on...

Brazilian aerospace company Embraer announced today it will coordinate all development and production activities in Brazil on behalf of Saab and, in addition to its own extensive work packages, will participate in systems development, integration, flight tests, final assembly and deliveries. 

LAAD 2015: IAI set to expand operations in Brazil, investing in a number of strategic partnerships

A Colombian Air-Force CN235 special-mission aircraft plane crashed on Friday in the north of the country, killing all 11 of those on board. The CN235 is manufactured by Airbus; the plane was produced in 1998 in Seville, Spain and was one of several aircraft converted to carry out Electronic Warfare missions.

As the U.S. Air Force is heading for a final selection of a Light Attack and Armed recce (LAAR) aircraft, final evaluation of the Brazilian Embraer A-29 Super Tucano and Hawker Beechcraft Defense Company (HBDC) AT-6 are performed. The AT-6 has been undergoing extensive weapon qualification and operational evaluation outlined in this article

Two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 (NATO Reporting Name: Blackjack) strategic bombers triggered a diplomatic raw last week, violating Colombian airspace two times on a mission flown from Caracas, Venezuela to Managua, Nicaragua. The two bombers entered Columbian airspace as they were flying over an Colombian island in the Caribbean sea, without propper request. The aircraft were detected about 11:00 am...

MBDA has announced the selection of its Sea Ceptor naval air defense system by the Brazilian Navy. The weapon will provide local area air defence for the Brazilian next generation Tamandaré class corvettes.