| Engesa had spent US$100 million on the development of the Osório by the mid-1980s but was unable to find a buyer for it. This Brazilian design was
sophisticated and demanded a high investment in technology.
The improved prototype was armed with a 120mm cannon but the version that was to have been adopted for the Brazilian Army was only armed with a
105mm.
The original model was provided for trials in Saudi Arabia, it was the winner of the competition between M-1 Abrams, AMX 40 and Challenger, in the late
1980s. The Osório project came to an abrupt end with Operation Desert Storm against Iraq in 1991 despite the fact that Engesa had won the evaluation
process as closer ties had developed between Saudi Arabia and the USA during the war with Iraq.
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