Colombian Army down to half of its APC fleet

M-113A2 Colombian, with desert scheme and camouflage mesh. (Janes/Erich Saumeth Cadavid)

The Colombian Army has 28 operational M113A2 armoured personnel carriers (APCs), about half of what it operated 10 years ago, according to army documents viewed by Janes.

Food Machinery Corp – now part of BAE Systems – delivered up to 88 units of the A1 variant in 1977. This stock shrunk to 54 vehicles in service at the beginning of the last decade, and Dynamic Trading Solutions (DTS) upgraded the vehicles to the A2 variant.

The army supply was reduced to 40 and then 32 in recent years, according to army documents shared with Janes. In January 2022 that number was cut to 28 operational vehicles, which were serviced to extend their lifetime at a cost of USD2.9 million, a US-Colombian Army agreement revealed at the time.

The M113A2s, locally called Military Personal Transport-113 (TPM-113), are deployed within three areas: Mechanized Infantry Battalion No 6 with 77% of the available units; Mechanized Infantry Battalion No 5 with 14% of available units; and Army Infantry School for instruction work with 9% available, according to army documents.

The TPM-113s can carry up to 10 soldiers, a driver, artilleryman, and complete equipment, according to the army. The vehicles have a turret with a 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine gun and a smoke launcher system with mountings for double tubes each.