27 January 2023

IAV 2023: Spanish Army launches VAC programme

by Sonny Butterworth

The Spanish Army's VAC will leverage the development work done on the Spanish Army's Castor AEV (shown above), the Pizarro, and the VCR Dragón. (General Dynamics European Land Systems)

The Spanish Army has commenced design studies for a new Tracked Support Vehicle (Vehículo de Apoyo de Cadenas: VAC) and intends to start manufacturing for the programme in 2024, according to a presentation given by a representative from the Spanish Army at the International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) conference, which was held in London from 23 to 26 January 2023.

The VAC is intended to replace around 2,000 vehicles from the M113 tracked armoured personnel carrier (APC) family that are in service with the Spanish Army. It will be produced in several different variants so that it is capable of performing various combat support roles in the three heavy tracked brigades that will continue to form part of the Spanish Army's future force structure.

Development of the VAC is expected to proceed quickly, as the vehicle will be based on the Spanish Army's Pizarro infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) and the related Castor armoured engineering vehicle (AEV), both of which are derivatives of the Austro-Spanish Cooperative Development (ASCOD) tracked vehicle family. It will also utilise the same mission systems and turrets used by the Spanish Army's 8×8 Wheeled Combat Vehicle (Vehículo de Combate sobre Ruedas: VCR) Dragón.

While the representative did not disclose which variants of the VAC were planned for production, the Spanish Army has employed the M113 for the command vehicle, mortar carrier, armoured ambulance, and AEV roles. Plans emerged in December 2019 for a programme to convert some of the Spanish Army's M113s into dedicated anti-tank vehicles equipped with missile launchers for the Spike anti-tank guided missile (ATGM).

The Spanish Army has commenced design studies for a new Tracked Support Vehicle (Vehículo de Apoyo d...

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