The Commando Mk III APC was developed by Bravia in 1977 to meet the original requirements of the Portuguese National Guard and has since been exported to at least two countries for internal security use. The first prototype of the Commando Mk III APC was completed in 1977 with production vehicles following the same year. The vehicle is basically a short wheelbase version of the Bravia Gazela (4 × 4) cross-country 1 tonne truck chassis fitted with an armoured body.

By mid-2007, total production of the Bravia Commando Mk III armoured personnel carrier amounted to approximately 200 vehicles. As far as is known there has been no recent production of the Bravia Commando Mk III vehicle for the home or export market.

Production was originally undertaken by TRACE (Trading Company & Consulting Engineers) which is the holding company of the Bravia Group SA and Ordnance Engineering.

It is understood that production of this vehicle was completed some time ago and it is no longer marketed. Description

The V-8 turbocharged diesel engine is at the front of the vehicle, driver and commander in the centre and the personnel compartment at the rear. The driver sits on the left of the vehicle with the commander to his right. They each have a windscreen to the front, which can be covered quickly by an internally controlled drop-down armoured visor containing a laminated glass observation block. The commander and the driver have a side door, the top part of which folds down on the outside for improved visibility and a laminated glass observation block.

The five troops sit to the rear of the driver's and commander's position and are provided with four firing ports with a laminated observation window over each, one in each side of the hull and two in the rear. The interior of the vehicle is lined with non-inflammable PVC foam and ventilation is provided by a fresh air system with electric fan boost.

The Bravia-designed one-person manually operated turret is mounted in the centre of the roof and is armed with twin 7.62 mm machine guns or one 7.62 mm and one .50 (12.7 mm) machine gun. The weapons can be elevated from -15 to +60° manually and traverse is manual through a full 360°. The turret has a single-piece hatch cover that opens to the rear, vision blocks and a periscopic day sight in its forward part for aiming the machine guns. The turret can be fitted with a device for launching five 60 mm anti-personnel, anti-tank, smoke, illuminating or incendiary grenades.

Optional equipment includes sand tyres, run-flat tyres, an air conditioning system and a fire extinguishing and explosion suppression system. Variants

The Commando Mk III was available in a 4 × 2 configuration when there is a limited off-road requirement. The vehicle is also available with an additional door to the immediate rear of the commander's and driver's doors. This is similar to the driver's door.

If required, the Commando Mk III could be supplied without the manually operated machine gun turret for use in the armoured personnel carrier role.

For use in the dedicated armoured personnel carrier role, a version of the Commando Mk III could be available with the hull roof extended to the rear. The troop compartment has two doors in the rear, each of which has a vision block with a firing port underneath. There are also two vision blocks and two firing ports in either side of the rear troop compartment. This version could be delivered with or without the 7.62 mm/12.7 mm machine gun turret.