In a contract signing ceremony chaired by the Secretary of State for Defense, María Amparo Valcarce, the Spanish Ministry of Defense has awarded TESS Defence the contract for the design and manufacture of the Vehículo de Apoyo a Cadenas (VAC) for the Spanish Army. The aim of this project is to provide the Spanish Army with a multipurpose tracked vehicle to carry out the operational and logistical missions currently performed by the Transporte Oruga Acorzado (TOA), but upgrading its protection, mobility and firepower to be able to face today’s demanding operational scenarios. The program, in addition to meeting the needs of the Spanish Army, has a significant impact on the national defense industry. Like the VCR8x8, the VAC is expected to have a structuring effect, involving more than 400 national suppliers and reinforcing Spanish production structures, thus contributing to the collaborative and sustained development of defense capabilities.
The VAC vehicle range will include different variants of the combat support vehicles, with command post, anti-tank defense, 120 mm heavy carrier, sapper, forward observer and personnel carrier variants, and logistics vehicles, with cargo, ambulance and recovery versions. TESS Defence already presented a first prototype of the VAC in its carrier version during FEINDEF. TESS Defence is the result of the most important national strategic alliance in the land defence field in recent decades, as a result of the participation of EM&E, Indra, Santa Barbara and SAPA. Its alignment with the needs of Defence allows it to be an essential actor in the definition of this new project, providing proven solutions already developed in the VCR8x8 Dragon Program. The experience acquired by TESS Defence in the VCR8x8 Program and the resources and capabilities of its partners will enable the transfer of mature technical solutions, with agility, to allow the commissioning of the VAC in a short space of time.
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