Philippine Army's Armor Division commander Maj. Gen. Facundo Palafox IV mentioned in a media interview lately that they will be receiving 28 6x6 wheeled armored personnel carriers armed with 25mm cannons by 2024.
He was obviously referring to the VBTP-MR Guarani 6x6 wheeled APCs being supplied by Israel's Elbit Systems in cooperation with Italian-Brazilian venture IVECO LATAM under the PA's Wheeled APC Acquisition Project.
Previously MaxDefense PH has reported that the APCs will be coming with only 12.7mm heavy machine gun mounts and not medium caliber guns like 25mm cannon. So we welcome the update from MGen. Palafox.
But we have some reservations on this as our previous info came from the Terms of Reference of the project, which is part of the project's contract.
Ares Reman 25mm cannon (photo : Shephard)
The only possibilities we see on the upgrade of weapons from 12.7mm heavy MGs to 25mm cannon could be due to variation order from the DND & Philippine Army, or if Elbit Systems is upgrading its offer on its own goodwill, especially with the project now delayed due to Germany's decision to hold the deliveries of the vehicles due to Brazil's political issues with Germany.
So far, the latest photo we got and shared by one of our community members from the recently-concluded LAAD Defense & Security Expo 2023 of what appears to be one of the Philippines-bound Guarani 6x6 APC has a 12.7mm heavy machine gun mount on an Ares REMAN manned protected turret, which supports the earlier information we have.
FYI, Ares is the Brazilian subsidiary of Elbit Systems.
Again, this can be subject to changes so we are also hoping that a 25mm cannon will be used on the Philippine Guaranis instead.
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