Spanish company Escribano Mechanicals & Engineering (EM&E) recently demonstrated a number of vehicles technologies to Gen Francisco Javier Varela Salas, Chief of Staff of the Spanish Army, the company announced on 26 April. The demonstrations took place at Escribano’s ‘Viso Valley’ facility, its newly established experimentation centre.
The technical maturity of the GUARDIAN 30 station was shown, integrated on to a Spanish Marine PIRANHA vehicle. This is one of the weapon stations proposed for the Spanish Army’s new 8×8 armoured vehicle programme. Escribano is investing in and expanding its capabilities, to become a national technology reference point and with an eye on the future 8×8 DRAGÓN programme.
Among the systems showcased were two Rheinmetall Mission Master UGVs, integrating Escribano’s GUARDIAN 2.0 station and OTEOS electro-optical system. The Mission Master unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is produced by Rheinmetall to support multiple mission requirements of troops in difficult terrain conditions. The vehicle features a rugged, all-terrain and fully-amphibious 8×8 chassis.
Also demonstrated was the established ‘Remote Drive’ solution, using an URO VAMTAC vehicle integrating the GUARDIAN 2.0. The system was developed in conjunction with INTA and INSIA, a research body of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, under a National Armament Directorate programme contracted in 2018. A contract for the supply of 83 driving camera systems was awarded last year.
