Thales awarded Brazilian Army Sotas contract

Thales is to supply its Sotas communication system to the Brazilian Army under a new contract announced on 12 February. The system will be installed in a number of vehicles of the Brazilian land forces, bringing increased situational awareness at all levels of the command structure.

Vehicles covered in the contract include the new Guarani vehicle, the Cascavel, the M113 and the Urutu refurbishment programmes. The Guarani programme alone has a potential of over 2,000 vehicles.

Brazil purchased the Sotas system in 2011 for testing. According to Thales, the results of this testing showed that when used in various armoured vehicles in a range of operational situations, the system met the Communications and Electronic Warfare Command of the Brazilian Army’s (CCOMGEX's) stringent requirements in every respect.

The Sotas vehicle communication system is an integrated end-to-end communication and information network, supporting shared situational awareness at all levels of command, from the operations room to infantry in the field. The Sotas product family consists of modular components that can be assembled and scaled to provide the best configuration for vehicle types and missions.

The systems will be delivered in June 2014. A transfer of maintenance to the end-user is part of the contract.

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

M113

Guarani 6x6 (VBTP)

EE-9 Cascavel