Biselli CAMANF

The CAMANF (Caminhão Anfíbio, "amphibious truck") is a Brazilian six-wheel-drive amphibious truck designed and built by Biselli Viaturas e Equipamentos Industriais as a close successor to the wartime DUKW. It served with the Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais, the Brazilian Marine Corps.

Background

The Brazilian Marines had operated 34 ex-French DUKWs, overhauled in 1970 and used until the 1980s. Their design inspired Biselli, which began studies in 1978 for a similar vehicle. The first step was rebuilding four DUKWs that served as the basis of the new model.

Design

The CAMANF used a modified Ford F-7000 6x6 truck chassis and a Brazilian-built Detroit Diesel 4-53N engine of 145 hp, considerably more than the DUKW's petrol engine. Its hull was cold-rolled steel with a reinforced bow. It had a Clark gearbox, GMC transfer and propeller drives, power steering, a 12-volt electrical system and run-flat 900 x 20 tyres with central inflation and deflation. A dual-purpose rear winch could pull loads behind or, via an opening for the cable, ahead of the vehicle. It could carry 5 tonnes on land or in calm water, but only 2.5 tonnes in rough seas, or a driver and 58 troops.

The vehicle was 9.5 m long and 2.5 m wide, weighed about 13.5 tonnes and reached 72 km/h on land and 14 km/h in the water, with up to 18 hours of endurance afloat.

Service

Around 25 were planned but only five were built and operated by the Marines, who later chose more modern armoured vehicles instead. Biselli no longer exists, and the author of the article in the archive believed no CAMANF survives.