Brazilian tech tree for World of Tanks proposal by PikPikker

Total order in 1921 was 12 “carros de assalto”, enough to make a company with 4 machine gun armed, 7 gun-armed, and one TSF, command version. A former WWI observer in French units and father of the Brazilian tank force, Captain José Pessôa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, suggested the purchase. Although they were initially purchased to test tactical theories, these tanks fought against the rebellion of 1924 and the revolution of 1932, and survived WWII, being kept for training purposes.

I feel really sorry but there's nothing decent to fit the Brazilian tree on the second tier. This Peruvian tank is possible because Peru neighbors Brazil and Peru isn't the one that can get any sort of tech-tree (actually it was the only "interesting" Peruvian tank).

LTP was built by ČKD/Praga specifically to satisfy the needs of the army of Peru. Basically, what happened was - the first "predecessor" of the whole series was the THN. It was a rather successful design, made for Iran, produced between the years 1935-1937. Of course, its success attracted other potential buyers. Peru was one of them and certainly one of the most distant ones, if not the most distant one.

The negotiations were held between 1936 and 1938 and were led by Col. José Tamayo from Peru. The most important demand of the Peruvian army was that the vehicles would be able to operate independently and without problems in high altitudes. Peru is a country with many mountains and the low air pressure in high altitudes could pose a serious problem. To compensate for this, the Praga engineers increased the air intake to the engine while using better compression ratios. The result was good - the vehicle could operate in any altitude up to 4500m above sea level without any performance reduction. The vehicle would also have to be light (mountains are no place for heavy or even medium tanks, at least back then they were not), with reasonable firepower and adequate protection for its time. Naturally, there was a question of who the vehicle would have to fight. Peru did not need a battle tank designed to take on hordes of incoming Panzers, rather than a nimble quick vehicle with enough firepower to knock out enemy infantry strongpoints and of course to serve as a COIN vehicle (counter-insurgency). LTP offered a perfect blend of those parameters.

After roughly two years of negotiations, an agreement was reached and 24 vehicles were ordered (plus the prototype) and brought in service under the Peruvian designation Tanque 39. Along with the negotiator, José Tamayo, first vehicles were transferred to Peru in Lima under the supervision of captain Hector Cornejo (technical supervisor) and his two assistents (one of who was a native American). The technical trials in Peru were the place where the LTP legend was born. The prototype vehicle worked perfectly.

By the time the trials ended and Peru decided to order some vehicles, a full mobilisation was taking place in Czechoslovakia (it was the time when people still thought there would be a war with the Germans) and the vehicles, currently manufactured for Peru, were confiscated by the Czechoslovak army. After the mobilisation was cancelled, they were returned and in November 1938, first 6 serial vehicles were sent to Peru. 24 were made in total and the last vehicles arrived in Peru on 27.2.1939.

The tanks saw action for the first time on 19.2.1939 against a group attempting a coup d'etat. Their debut was a success and in June they were officially presented during a military parade in Lima. During the Peru-Ecuador border war in July 1941, the vehicles were successful again (12 were operating against Ecuador as a part of "Group North"). In 1946, more vehicles were ordered from ČKD, but that order was never fulfilled - only a certain amount of spare parts was sold to the Peruvian army in 1950.

And so the tanks continued to soldier on. In 1970's, they were used to fight the maoist rebels from the "Shining Path" movement and the last two remaining vehicles in operation were used until 1988 for patrol duties near Callaa. By that time they were completely worn out however and they were taken out of service to be used as military monuments. One of the tanks was recently sold back to the Czech Republic and is currently located in Prague military museum.

The M3 Stuart Light Tanks were in service with the BEF throughout Italy and until the surrender of the Axis. Shipped backed to Brazil, they were kept in service until the 1970s, when they were partly modernized by the Bernardini company.

In the 1970s, when the Brazilian Army Staff asked itself what to do with its fleet of 350 M3A1/A3 Stuarts acquired from the US starting in 1942 (20) and the rest in 1944-45, the usual answer would have to be to find the nearest scrapyard or dump them for future collectors and museums. Many had already been stored, retired, or cannibalized to keep about a hundred operational.

However, first of all, the motivation for upgrading the venerable Stuart was due to the lack of spare parts for these tanks. In fact, by 1977, Brazil had denounced the US-Brazilian military agreements, severing all possible part acquisitions. The Army gave technical supervision for the project to the Brazilian Army Research and Development Centre, and a manufacturer was chosen. The concept later evolved into a machine quite distinct from the original Stuart. The relative success of the project ultimately gave Bernardini the confidence to start its own main battle tank, the MB-3 Tamoyo in 1983.

100 vehicles were ordered for conversion from M3A1 Stuarts. However, only 80 were delivered following prototype trials. The modernization started in 1975 and was completed in 1978.

The following model after the X1A, the Carcara X1A1, was tested in 1977-78. It had three bogies and a stretched-out chassis to make room for a bigger engine, upgraded equipment and more ammo, but the rest was similar to the X1A. It never entered production because it proceeded to the X1A2 version.

First designated "X-30", the program was established in 1978. The hull was significantly redesigned over the M41 WB, and the turret was essentially all-new, resulting in a tank that looked almost nothing like what it was derived from. Unfortunately almost nothing is known about this pre-production prototype (which even was not built), but it resulted the first Tamoyo to be built in 1982 (MB-1 Tamoyo).

Many M41 tanks were passed to the M41B standard, but it was soon seen that the standard did not meet all the requirements of the army, so a new armored model, called M-41C Caxias, was made. There were several modifications in the Caxias, among them were the installation of optical systems of national manufacture, the improvement of the frontal armor, replacement of the caterpillars with a model manufactured by Novração Artefatos de Borracha S/A, the placement of sideskirts, installation of grenade launcher, placement of multiple compartments in the back of the turret, replacement of the electrical system.

The modernization kit was designed to be taken for export, but it did not work because of the crisis in the defense sector that happened in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which wiped out many projects and military companies in the country.

Brazilian army had about 340 M41 Bulldogs, and most of them were upgraded to M-41C standart, while some of them were converted into M-41B before.