Engesa EE-9 Cascavel [Rattlesnake]
Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle

The Engesa EE-9 [Rattlesnake] Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle provides mechanized forces on the modern battlefield a vehicle designed for speed and maneuverability on paved roads and operations in the field with a high degree of maneuverability and power. The EE-9 Cascavel was sold by Engesa to Iraq, Libya, Qatar, Iran, Peru, Ecuador and other countries. It was used extensively in the Iran/Iraq W and the Gulf War.

The ENGESA EE-9 Cascavel, started to be developed in 1970, in a partnership that involved the Regional Motorcycling Park of the 2nd Military Region - PqRMM / 2, and Engenheiros Especializados S / A - ENGESA, both based in Sao Paulo-SP. Produced for 18 years (1975/1983), this 6x6 armored vehicle, designed for reconnaissance and security operations, had simplicity as its greatest asset.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Brazil had an Industrial Defense Base with great productive capacity, believing that it would have a promising future, and undoubtedly the most successful ones, whether for its design, performance, cost and production, was the armored ENGESA EE-9 Rattlesnake, which at the present moment completes 40 years of real combat alongside icons of the world defense industrialist.

At that time in the country, there were several companies that produced materials aimed at military activity, from uniforms to tanks of various types and models, conceived mostly within military units aimed at the study of projects until the design phase of the prototypes that greatly benefited Brazilian private companies.

Undoubtedly the most successful one was ENGESA - Engenheiros Especializados S / A, here we did not disparage the others, but Engesa was able to absorb the entire study coming from the military area and create the main military products, many of which were exported, from trucks to armored. Its technical staff was extraordinary and was well ahead of its time in innovations and concepts, and that today many are employed by different countries, with extraordinary success.

The ENGESA Group had 11,000 employees, of which 600 were technicians, designers and engineers, only the Research Engineering part - ENGEPEQ absorbed 220 of them, but the �Empire� collapsed due to a series of factors ranging from poor administration and management , to economic problems experienced by the country in the early 1990s, and with some projects too modern, which were not well understood and assimilated by the Brazilian Armed Forces.

In the area of ??armored vehicles on wheels, the biggest sales success was undoubtedly the EE-9 Cascavel, initially developed in the Regional Motor Park of the 2nd Military Region - PqRMM / 2, in S�o Paulo, whose total production, including all its versions reached the figure of 1738 units, of which the biggest buyer was the Brazilian Army with 409 units, followed by Libya (400), Iraq (364), Colombia (128), Cyprus (124), Chile (106), Zimbabwe (90 ), Ecuador (32), Paraguay (28), Bolivia (24), Uruguay (15), Gabon (12) and Suriname (6).

During the project any unnecessary sophistication was eliminated, making the most of the parts produced by the then Brazilian automotive industry, this care made it a robust car, easy to operate, with simple and inexpensive maintenance. Its mobility was another positive point thanks to the then �boomegang� suspension, capable of performing quick maneuvers in any type of terrain, keeping the rear wheels always in contact with the ground.

It can also reach high speeds, covering great distances in a short time. Considered an excellent vehicle in its category, possessing an effective firepower, due to its armament located in the tower where it operates a 90 mm cannon and systems of direction of fire, with an above average efficiency. At the beginning of its serial production, it was equipped with a 62 F1 cannon and turret, both of French origin, and from the M-2S3 version it started using a Brazilian-designed cannon and turret, model EC-90 with 90 mm cannon and machine gun. 7.62mm.

Its production in all versions reached a total of 1738 units, exported to twelve countries, being the most successful national armor. As a curiosity, its unit cost, in 1988, was of the order of US $ 243,000.00 (Mercedes-Benz engine version) and US $ 258,000.00 (Detroit diesel engine version).

Its baptism of fire took place in 1977 and continues to operate in several conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and South America along the years of 2015 to 2017 in Libya and Iraq, where they have even undergone several modifications and been successfully employed in urban battles, the great nightmare of any army at the present time, where it has fulfilled its mission very well. It is also important to point out that even after more than two decades since the end of its production, it continues to be unshaken and intact in full and effective activity, fighting alongside true myths of foreign industry, being in no way inferior to them, as well as receiving modifications that were never even imagined by their creators, but which impressed, proving to be totally feasible and operational, either for their effectiveness, efficiency and maneuverability, or for the availability of parts and easy maintenance, in no way compromising their shock action and tactical mobility.

Iraq received a total of 232 EE-9 vehicles. During the Iran-Iraq War, EE-9 Rattlesnake were operated by Iraqi garrisons near the Persian Gulf. Armored cars were able to overcome the heaviest Iranian tanks and tracked combat vehicles on relatively flat and sandy terrain close to the coastal region. Coalition air strikes destroyed several EE-9s in northern Kuwait City in Operation Desert Storm. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the surviving EE-9 fleet turned to scrap; however, American technical personnel reinstated 35 units in operation in 2008 and introduced them to the New Iraqi Army. The locally modified EE-9s have been refurbished by the Iraqi militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces, with some having their 90 mm guns replaced or supplemented by DShk or ZPU machine guns, 107 mm 107 rockets or a 2A28 Grom cannon. They were used against Islamic State forces.

The biggest attraction of the 4th Mostra BID Brasil, held at the end of September 2016, in Bras�lia (DF), was the prototype of the modernization of VBR Cascavel, of the Brazilian Army (EB). In the beginning of the decade of 2010, the 13th Mechanized Cavalry Regiment (13th RCMec), in Pirassununga (SP), was having difficulties to solve several maintenance problems in the brakes of vehicles Engesa EE-9 Cascavel and EE-11 Urutu, as they are an old system, designed in the 1970s, that suffered a non-standard maintenance (due to the policy then practiced), which caused a great unavailability of these vehicles, as well as some potentially serious incidents. At that time, professor doctor engineer Jos� Guilherme Sabe, owner of Equitron Automa��o Eletr�nico Mec�nica Ltda, which also operates in the automotive industry, volunteered to seek solutions by modifying the system of a VBTP Urutu.

Since the first program (2013), Equitron decided to present several modular solutions, which could serve not only the Model II, but with minor changes, to all versions of Cascavel, allowing EB to implement only those that best meet its needs. needs, or do them in stages, depending on your demand or availability of resources. In this way, the prototype called EQ-12 appeared by Equitron; MX-8 , at AGSP; and EE-9U , in the Army Cavalry.

The famous Engesa Boomerang system, so acclaimed at the time of its adoption, notably for its ability to overcome obstacles, is considered one of the "Achilles' Heels" of Cascavel and Urutu, obsolete and no longer acceptable by current standards. When compared to modern systems, it is very heavy, due to the high value of suspended masses, which does not allow the use of an increase in engine power and contributes to giving the car a low travel speed under all-terrain conditions (QT).

The 90mm EC-90 cannon, with DF Vasconcelos optical sight, as well as the 7.62mm machine guns, coax and anti-aircraft, and the 76mm smoke grenade launchers, were maintained. The main part is now assisted by an inclinometer that automatically corrects the position of the cannon making it referenced in relation to the horizontal level. A multispectral observation sensor, from Opto Eletr�nica S / A, with LCD cameras with zoom, for daytime use was included; infrared camera, for night; and the MILMOS COTS system, by the Dutch Orlaco Products BV, composed of four compact cameras that cover a 360� arc, giving the vehicle commander an increase in situational awareness. All integrated by Equitron, in a touch screen interfacenational and in Portuguese. The communication system was replaced, the prototype being equipped with the Harris Falcon III tactical radio and the Thales SOTAS system for digital intercom, both used in the Guarani VBTP.

VARIANTS

• Cascavel I Original vehicle had a US M36 37-mm gun turret.
• Cascavel II Variant with a French 90-mm gun from AML-90.
• Cascavel III Uses the 90-mmCockerill gun and new transmission.
• Cascavel IVHas a new engine and transmission, improved day and night optics with laser rangefinder, and .a 50 cal antiaircraft MG.