EE-T1 Osório
Encyclopedia : E : EE : EET : EE-T1 Osório
| |
| EE-T1 Osorio | |
|---|---|
| General characteristics | |
| Crew | 4 |
| Length | 9.99 m |
| Width | 3.26 m |
| Height | 2.37 m |
| Weight | 39 tonnes (85,800 lb) |
| Armour and armament | |
| Armour | [secret] |
| Main armament | 105 mm British rifled gun, or 120 mm French smoothbore |
| Secondary armament | 7.62 mm machine gun |
| Mobility | |
| Power plant | 12-cylinder diesel 1,000 hp (745 kW) |
| Suspension | hydropneumatic |
| Road speed | 70 km/h |
| Power/weight | 26 hp/tonne |
| Range | 550 km |
The Engesa EE-T1 Osório was a Brazilian main battle tank competitive with the M1 Abrams and the Leopard 2.
It was a market gamble by Engesa: developed with little government support on borrowed investment funds, it would be sold first to Arab and other Third World countries not aligned with the NATO countries, and this would jumpstart production to enable the sorely underfunded Brazilian Army to place its own orders without funding the project development and research.
Unlike the M1 Abrams with its turbine engine, the Osório used a conventional diesel engine and it was lighter and more modern than the Leopard. It won the evaluation against both in Saudi Arabia, and thus was set to be bought by several other countries, including perhaps Iraq, that were looking forward to follow the results of the Saudi evaluation and implementation. But shortly after the evaluation, Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering the first Gulf War, and Saudi Arabia, being defended from Iraq by the United States, was bound to buy the M1 Abrams. Subsequently, due to the war result, Iraq was in no condition to place its own orders.
Other smaller prospective buyers followed Saudi Arabia lead into buying NATO. The Brazilian Army never got the funding to buy it, and the whole of Engesa went under.
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