page_title: EE-11 Urutu
section_title: Service history
hierarchical_section_title: EE-11 Urutu / Service history
caption_attribution_description: Português: 15RcMecEs (15º Regimento de Cavalaria Mecanizado - Escola) Français&#160;: Un transport de troupes EE-11 Urutu, appartenant à l'école du 15e régiment de cavalerie mécanisé de l'armée du Brésil.
context_page_description: The EE-11 Urutu is a Brazilian amphibious armored personnel carrier. It was based on the drive train and chassis components of the EE-9 Cascavel armored car and initially emerged as part of a project to develop an amphibious troop-carrying counterpart to that vehicle for the Brazilian Army and Marine Corps. The first pre-production models entered service with the CFN in 1973 and serial production commenced the following year. While the CFN declined to adopt the EE-11 Urutu in large numbers, the Brazilian Army was more forthcoming and purchased 223; these entered service in 1975.
  The Urutu was the first fully amphibious armored vehicle developed in Brazil; it can propel itself through water at speeds of 8 km/h via twin propellers. Urutus proved to be extremely popular in the Middle East, particularly with Libya and Iraq, both of which purchased large numbers to complement their fleets of Cascavel armored cars. Iraq deployed its Urutus during the Iran–Iraq War, which became, in effect, a proving ground for the vehicle type. A number of specialized variants were later developed for internal security purposes, vehicle recovery, air defense, cargo transport, and medical evacuation.
context_section_description: Financial considerations and the perceived unreliability of the US as an external supplier of military equipment provided the impetus for the Urutu program's success with the Brazilian Army. Engesa had cultivated a close working relationship with army officials, and personal ties between that firm and the latter were instrumental in securing the initial contract for a new armored personnel carrier. The Urutu was also evaluated favorably because the army wanted lightweight, wheeled vehicles capable of operating over vast distances without the logistics considerations then necessitated by heavier or tracked vehicles. In 1972 the Brazilian Army and the Brazilian Marine Corps formally expressed interest in the Urutu, and by late 1973 the first pre-production vehicles were being trialed. The Urutus tested by the Brazilian Marines were fitted with trim vanes, shrouded propellers, twin rudders, and four air intake tubes to negotiate open sea. Only 6 were ordered. The Brazilian Army accounted for the remainder of Engesa's initial order, purchasing over 200 Urutus. The Urutus were adopted by the support infantry troops in armored cavalry platoons and almost always deployed in concert with Cascavel armored cars. This practice was simplified by the vehicles' shared logistics train and interchangeability in automotive parts. The Urutu remained in front-line service with the Brazilian Army for almost forty years, at which point its basic technology had become quite dated in spite of continuous upgrades; since 2014 it has been superseded by the VBTP-MR Guarani.
  Enegesa was able to export Urutus widely on three continents. The rugged nature of the vehicles, as well as the fact that they were technologically simple and straightforward to maintain made them attractive purchases for a number of armies in South America, the Middle East, and Africa. Furthermore, Engesa was financially dependent on the prospect of successful exports; despite the large orders for Cascavels and Urutus placed by the Brazilian Army, it would be unable to sustain production otherwise. The domestic market was simply insufficient to support an armored vehicle industry, so export orders were perceived as helping achieve the economy of scale needed to make Engesa's operations viable. In 1973, Engesa unsuccessfully bid for a contract to develop a new wheeled infantry fighting vehicle for the South African Army. South Africa was the first foreign power to show an explicit interest in the Urutu and even tested a model optimized for southern African conditions as the Vlakvark. Engesa lost the bid to a German firm which produced a prototype of what would later become the Ratel. Its next attempt to market the Urutu on the international market took place in Chile and was more successful. Due to the political isolation of the Chilean military regime, Engesa found it had little competition in selling armored vehicles to that country's armed forces. Chile obligingly placed an order for 37 Urutus in 1975. The importance with which Engesa regarded this order was highlighted by its prioritization of the Chilean purchase in production, with domestic orders to the Brazilian Army being temporarily sidelined. In 1976, more Cascavels and Urutus were delivered to Chile than were in service with the entire Brazilian armed forces at the time. Chile retired its Urutus in 2002 and sold off its entire fleet to an Israeli defense contractor for re-export.
  Engesa's largest success in the export market came in the 1970s from Libya, which ordered 200 Cascavels as part of an arms deal worth $100 million. The Cascavel's combat debut in the 1977 Libyan–Egyptian War aroused international interest in Engesa armored vehicles, especially in the Middle East, and a number of Arab states such as Iraq dispatched military missions to Brazil that year to evaluate them. The Iraqi Army subsequently placed an order for 100 Urutus. Libya ordered more Cascavels and 180 Urutus in 1981. In time, these two nations became the largest single operators of the vehicle type, each holding hundreds of Urutus in service.
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caption: Brazilian infantry squad riding mounted in an EE-11 Urutu, 2012.
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