The Marine Corps (CFN) of the Brazilian Navy has begun a program to update its CLANF/AAV7A1 amphibious armored vehicles, at an approximate cost of 125 million dollars.
The Marine Corps (CFN) of the Brazilian Navy has begun a program to update its CLANF/AAV7A1 amphibious armored vehicles, at an approximate cost of 125 million dollars.
The 26 units owned by the CFN, purchased in the United States in the early 1990s, will be modernized following the same standards used by the U.S. Marine Corps.
Specifically, the vehicle’s suspension is to be reinforced, and the current 400-hp motor is to be replaced by a more modern and powerful 525-hp one, among other modifications needed to support the added weight entailed by the new armor, designed to increase the amphibious vehicle’s protection against missiles and anti-tank rockets.
The updating process will last five years, and the first CLANFs sent to the United States will be those currently out of service.
The chief mission of the CLANF amphibious vehicles is to transport the Marines from the sea to disembarkation on the beach, as well as to provide them with mobility and elevated strike capability when on land.
They can transport a squad of Marines armed with a 50-mm machine gun and a 40-mm grenade launcher, and they function as armored boats capable of navigating in open waters and of landing on the beach and advancing inland with great speed and mobility, both by day and by night.