Bernd
12/12/2019 (Thu) 03:04:26
No.33021
del
Afterwards, Iraq defaulted on an U$ 200 million debt to Engesa. The Brazilian government gave it a U$ 1,5 billion loan to cover this and the Osório’s loss, but it was too late. The company was already dying and with the burden of years of poor management it defaulted on this debt. Engesa closed its doors in 1993.
The pre-series Osório had its foreign components sent back to pay debts and the rest sold for scrap. Two surviving prototypes were put on auction in 2002 but are now under military custody by judicial decision.
José Luiz Whitaker Ribeiro died in 30 November 2018 at the age of 88.
The Army’s last M41s left service in 2010. It currently fields Leopard 1s and M60s, old but true MBTs.
The Cascavel and Urutu are still in service. The latter has found a successor this decade: Iveco’s Guarani.
Rumors of an Osório comeback circulated years ago but were spurious. Technical documents have been lost long ago and any new production would require extensive reverse engineering and modernization of systems.