Brazilian military officials firmly believe that their defense industry possesses sufficient capabilities and expertise to independently establish the production of components for Leopard 1 tanks and meet their needs until 2040.
In any case, this conclusion arises from a report by the agency Janes, which states that the Brazilian defense ministry has decided to postpone plans for acquiring new armored vehicles until 2037-2040.
Specifically, during the FAVS 2024 conference, Lieutenant General Thales Eduardo Areco Villela, head of the Brazilian Army's Production Management, outlined Brazil's current plans for acquiring new armored vehicles, which appear quite unusual.
In the current year of 2024, the Brazilian army intends to finalize the selection of new main battle tanks (MBTs) and infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and even purchase a few "demonstrator" units, but the main procurement of 65 tanks and 78 infantry fighting vehicles has been postponed entirely to 2037-2040.
The reason behind such a decision to delay the acquisition of new armored vehicles for two decades was not clarified by the Brazilian general. He also refrained from speculating on which tank and IFV manufacturing countries might agree to such supply conditions.
Regarding the procurement of tanks and IFVs, the Brazilians have stated general requirements: the tank must be equipped with a 120mm cannon and have a crew of 4, while the IFV should have an automatic cannon of at least 30 millimeters caliber, with a crew of 3 and a troop capacity of eight.
To effectively bridge the gap until 2037-2040, Brazil plans a "partial revitalization" of its Leopard 1A5 MBTs, which includes plans to completely replace the production of components for these tanks with domestic alternatives.
According to The Military Balance 2024, the Brazilian army currently has 251 Leopard 1 tanks, while the country's defense budget amounts to the equivalent of 5 billion dollars.