The Spanish Land Forces have received 40 Dragon 8×8 wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, a number operationally equivalent to the entire vehicles of a mechanized battalion.
The delivery is part of the Fuerza 35 rearmament program, intended for the structural modernization of the Spanish Army.
The information was communicated by the Spanish Ministry of Defense, which confirmed that the vehicles were officially received at the Álvarez de Sotomayor base, after their transfer by the Tess Defense industrial consortium.
The reception ceremony took place in the presence of the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, the Secretary of State for Defense, Amparo Valcarce, and the Chief of Staff of the Army (JEME), General Amador Ensenyat. Robles, who had previously criticized the program’s delays, stressed the strategic importance of integrating these new means.
“Our army is the most important thing. Thanks to this program, the interoperability of the Spanish Army, as well as its reliability and responsibility in NATO, European Union and UN missions, have been strengthened,” she said.
Dragon 8×8
The Dragon 8×8 is the localized Spanish version of the armored vehicle The Moses Voriginally developed by the Swiss division of General Dynamics. Designed in an 8×8 configuration, the armored vehicle features modern hydropneumatic suspension and powered by a diesel engine Scania DC13 developing 620 horsepower, allowing the vehicle, weighing around 33 tonnes, to reach a maximum speed of 100 km/h on the road.
The platform is offered in different configurations, including versions armed with a machine gun, a 30mm automatic cannon and anti-tank missiles. In terms of protection, the Dragon has circular armor against 14.5mm ammunition and shrapnel from 155mm artillery shells at a distance of 25 meters.
The vehicle is also protected against the detonation of up to 10 kg of TNT under the wheel, meeting level 4 of the NATO standard stanag 4569. With additional frontal and side armor, it is also supposed to resist fire from 25 mm automatic cannons.
The Dragon 8×8 is intended to become the backbone of the Spanish Army’s future fleet of wheeled armored vehicles under the Fuerza 35 program, gradually replacing the older M113 and Pegaso VEC-M1 reconnaissance vehicles, which have been in service for more than four decades.
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Contract and program reviews
The contract for the supply of 348 vehicles was signed in August 2020, for a budget greater than 2 billion euroswith deliveries planned over five years. The first batch of vehicles for testing arrived in 2022, according to the original schedule.
Despite recent progress, the Dragon program is the subject of recurring criticism in the Spanish military press. Reports indicate technical and organizational difficulties, including excess weight, rear ramp problems, pulley failures, powertrain instability, and certification difficulties during tests involving the turret, chassis, and mechanical and electronic systems.
Source and images: Ministerio de Defensa – X @Defensagob. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
