Bravia Chaimite

Libya placed an order of 60 V-200 Chaimite armored cars in June 1976, though only 13 or 16 were delivered. The Libyan government cancelled the order upon hearing that the Portuguese government had decided that same year to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, an act that infuriated President Muammar Gaddafi who immediately severed the diplomatic and commercial ties with Portugal in protest, which left the remaining 25 vehicles still in production at the assembly line of the Bravia VM plant in Samora Correia.[8] The batch of V-200 Chaimite armored cars that was shipped to Libya prior to the break-up of diplomatic relations was assigned to the Presidential Guard,[8] with one of the vehicles being later sent to Lebanon; the other remaining vehicles were kept in service until the overthrow of the Gaddafi Regime in October 2011. Their present status is unknown, though some unconfirmed reports claim that they have been used in combat on the ongoing Libyan Civil War.

Twenty V-200 Chaimite armored cars were acquired in 1973 by the government of the Philippines for its Philippine Army units fighting the Muslim separatist guerrillas in Mindanao during the Moro conflict, but only 13 were actually delivered before the order was cancelled by the Philippine authorities.[9]

Lebanon was the first Middle Eastern country to place a request in December 1972 of thirty V-200 Chaimite armored cars for its Internal Security Forces (ISF), though only twenty-one vehicles had been delivered by April 1975, when occurred the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), a conflict in which they saw considerable action.[10] During the Battle of the Hotels in October 1975, the ISF used their own V-200 armored cars alongside loaned M113 and Panhard M3 VTT armored personnel carriers (APCs) by the Lebanese Army in a successful operation to evacuate more than 200 people – including the staff and residents, most of them tourists – trapped in the Holiday Inn and adjoining hotels located at the Minet el-Hosn hotel district of downtown Beirut.

When the ISF collapsed in January 1976, the Christian Tigers Militia and Guardians of the Cedars (GoC) militia were able to seize an unspecified number of V-200 armored cars, which the GoC later employed against the Syrian Army at Houche el-Oumara during the Battle of Zahleh on April–June 1981.[11] The vehicles operated by the Tigers Militia were reportedly employed in the defense of the Christian-controlled east Beirut quarters during the Hundred Days' War in February–April 1978, but after the forcible disbandment of the militia in October 1980 they were eventually returned to ISF ownership.

The Lebanese ISF Command was so impressed by the performance in the field of its V-200 Chaimite armored cars – notably, the Lebanese crews praised the ability of their vehicles armored hull to withstand in an Urban combat environment small-arms fire, landmine blasts and even RPG-7 anti-tanks rounds[12] – that they requested further nine or 10 vehicles in 1980, which were delivered by 1982. Later in August 1990, the Lebanese showed interest in acquiring an additional thirty V-200 armored cars along with 15 Bravia Commando MK III patrol cars for the ISF, but those plans were eventually scrapped upon the conclusion of the civil war in October that same year.[12]

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrilla factions operating in Lebanon received from Libya a single vehicle in 1981, which was later captured in the Beqaa Valley by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) during the 1982 Lebanon War.[13]

Peru was the first foreign customer of the Chaimite, purchasing in 1970 twenty V-200 armored cars for its Marine corps, which were delivered in 1971–1973.[14]

•  Lebanon: 30;[15][16]
•  Libya: 16;[15]
•  Peru: 20;[15]
•  Philippines: 20.[15]

• Guardians of the Cedars – some captured from the Internal Security Forces in 1976;
• Tigers Militia – some captured from the Internal Security Forces in 1976 and returned in 1980;
•  Palestine: Palestine Liberation Organization – 1 supplied by Libya in 1981;
•  Portugal – 84 units were operated by the Portuguese Army[17] and 4 operated by the Portuguese Marine Corps;[18] replaced in 2009 by 188 Pandur II.

•  Iran;[18]
•  Malaysia: one V-400 prototype tested in July 1973;[19]
•  Myanmar;[18]
•  Venezuela.[18]