What Has 6 Wheels And Weighs 40,000 Pounds? This Absurd Brazilian Armored Vehicle

The Viatura Blindada Transporte de Pessoal – Média sobre Rodas, code named Guarani, is among Brazil's most technologically advanced military vehicles. This beastly monster is, as you can see, an amphibious personnel carrier designed to haul up to 11 people (three crew and eight passengers) over pretty much any terrain the world can throw at it. The Iveco-based brute is too heavy at over 46,000 pounds to drive over a whole lot of small bridges, but with six wheels to manage off-road stability, you don't need to worry about bridges. You can just drive around. 

Way back in 1999 the Brazilian military, the largest national defense force in South America, issued a request for bids on a new generation of amphibious armored fighting vehicles to replace its EE-9 Cascavel and EE-11 Urutu. Ten years later, Italy's Iveco agreed to deliver in a bid worth about 2.5 billion euros — $4.2 billion today — to produce 2,044 units. Known for its large freight trucks, Iveco produces around 200,000 vehicles annually, making this a pretty small contract by its standards. And Iveco has other things on its mind, like its partnership with Metallica.

Brazil hasn't really fought in any major international conflicts since it sent about 25,000 soldiers to fight alongside Allied campaigns in Italy during World War II. As with most global powers these days, a large military is more about a show of force and peacekeeping than it is international battle. These amphibious vehicles are imperative for ground operations within Brazil, however, as most of the country is coated in a thick carpet of forest and marshlands, as well as thousands of rivers, tributaries, and lakes. A typical ground-based troop transporter would have a hard time getting in and out of most Brazilian locales, including Henry Ford's Amazon rubber dream, Fordlandia. 

There's very little out there that can stop this amphibious armored personnel carrier. It packs an Iveco Cursor 9 diesel engine, which puts out a pretty impressive 380 horsepower and 1,254 lb-ft of torque. That should be enough torque to climb over basically anything or knock over anything in its way. In case the engine conks out, however, there is a backup electric drive train and auxiliary stabilization systems to keep it upright if it's getting batted around by airstrikes, or maybe one of Pablo Escobar's escaped Colombian hippos wandered a little too far south. It'll run up a 60% grade and can handle a 30% side slope, but you probably won't be able to outrun much on level ground, though, as this armored personnel carrier has a top speed of just 68 miles per hour. 

When the going gets tough and you batten down all the hatches, the Guarani can keep the people inside safe from pretty much any kind of harm. With a high-hardness monocoque steel V-shaped hull, anti-mine protection, and fittings for additional armor if needed, you can take some hits and live to dish them back out. Not only does the transporter feature onboard life support systems, but there are comprehensive fire suppression in case something does make it inside. And, just to be safe, the VBTP-MR Guarani can be equipped with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapon protection add-ons.

Regardless, you aren't just a sitting duck inside one of these machines, as they can be equipped with any manner of modular weaponry. They typically carry 30mm medium-caliber armaments, but can also be equipped with counter-drone hardware, a C4I comms array, or jammers. 

As with all things government-related, the program fell behind on deadlines and fell short on quantity, as the first group of 86 VBTP-MR units was supposed to be delivered by 2012, but only 13 had been supplied two years later. All units were supposed to have been delivered by 2030, but the timetable has stretched out to 2037 and the Brazilian Army has cut the number of units down to about half of the original contract.

Since taking on the contract, Iveco has managed to sell additional units to Ghana, Argentina, and the Philippines. It seems just about anyone with a spare million dollars or so can call up Iveco and get themselves a Guarani. Do you have a private island or a compound somewhere that needs protection? This modular machine could be the answer for you. Iveco also makes an amphibious armored vehicle with eight wheels, the SuperAV, in case you were begging for more. 

Chances are you haven't personally declared war on anyone else since World War II either, so like Brazil you could pick up a handful of these Guaranis from Iveco and kick off your own private military to patrol your land. You never know when one might come in handy.