Ukraine relies on a range of wheeled tanks to defend itself against the Russian invasion. Now a particularly rare example has surfaced from Spain.
Kiev – In the Ukraine war, the defenders are using numerous armored vehicles from the West. Ukrainian soldiers have now praised Germany’s Leopard-2A6 in a video from their Defense Ministry. That’s not all: In the fight against the Russian forces in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south and in the Donbass in the east, the Ukrainians are apparently also using an extremely rare wheeled tank from Spain.
Ukraine War: Ukrainian army has probably received a very rare wheeled tank
According to reports from the Ukrainian news portal Defense Express This is the “Vehiculo de Rescate en Areas Catastróficas” (VRAC). In German: rescue vehicle in disaster areas. Defense Express refers to the X account in his report Ukraine Weapons Tracker, which documents evidence of Western arms deliveries to the Ukrainian army. The account has more than 875,000 followers and serves, among other things, the much-cited US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) as a source basis.
Loud Ukraine Weapons Tracker Only three examples of the wheel-driven armored troop transport were manufactured – the VRAC therefore never went into series production. The VRAC is based on the Spanish wheeled tank “Pegaso BMR APC”, which has been mass-produced for the Spanish army since 1979.
Wheeled tank for Ukraine: VRAC from Spain is supposed to transport the wounded
The armor consists of an aluminum tub that is up to 40 millimeters thick. The armored vehicle is presumably powered by a 9-liter Pegaso 9157/8 six-cylinder turbodiesel engine with 306 hp, which cannot be independently verified as there is little verifiable information about the VRAC. Which in turn shows how rare the wheeled tank is.
According to unconfirmed information, the vehicle should be able to drive up to 100 km/h, which would be comparatively fast. And: It is not armed in its original version. Also in the photo Ukraine Weapons Tracker, which is supposed to show the VRAC in the country that was attacked in violation of international law, there is no machine gun to be seen. Instead, the vehicle is intended to be used for the protected transport of wounded people. Where the VRAC comes from is unclear. The Spanish government in Madrid had not announced such a delivery.
Tanks for Ukraine: Germany supplies more Marder and Leopard 1A5
It is possible, for example, that Ukraine acquired the wheeled tank from a dealer in the private sector, while there are currently indications, among other things, that cluster munitions for HIMARS multiple rocket launchers have been delivered from the USA. In addition, Kiev has recently received 20 more Marder infantry fighting vehicles from Germany (60 in total), after the Federal Republic had also delivered 20 Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks since the end of August. This emerges from the Traffic Light Federal Government’s “List of Military Support Services” updated on September 13th. (pm)
#Ukraine #extremely #rare #military #vehicle #war