The Minister of Defense of Spain, Margarita Robles, has made an announcement about a new military aid package to Ukraine at the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

The news was made public in a press release on the official website of the Ministry of Defense of Spain.

Margarita Robles joined the twelfth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the ministerial level via video conference.

During the meeting, Robles, in particular, announced the upcoming delivery of 4 Leopard 2A4 tanks, which Madrid had promised in the previous defense package, as well as a new batch of M113 tracked armored personnel carriers. The quantity of the latter was not disclosed to the public.

In general, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Spain has transferred several dozen M113 armored personnel carriers in various modifications as part of the military aid.

Previously, in July 2022, the country’s government announced the transfer of two dozen tracked armored personnel carriers to the Ukrainian army. Also, in January 2023, Spain handed Ukraine another 20 armored vehicles, some of which were modernized into a self-propelled 120-mm mortar version.

During the meeting of defense ministers, Margarita Robles renewed Spain’s commitment to partners who support Ukraine as necessary.

She also emphasized the significant progress in the training of the Ukrainian military on the territory of Spain, where about 1,500 servicemen had already been trained.

M113 armored personnel carrier

M113 lightweight universal floating conveyor was developed in the 1960s. It is the main tracked armored personnel carrier, which is in service of mechanized troops of the U.S. Army, as well as several dozen other countries of the world.

The crew consists of two people, a mechanic/driver and a commander, being able to carry an airborne unit of up to 11 people, as well as serve as a platform for several dozens of specialized vehicles.

In its basic configuration, the armored personnel carrier is armed with an open turret adapted to mount a 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun or a 40 mm Mk.19 automatic grenade launcher.

Over the years of operation in various countries, the armored vehicle has been repeatedly modernized. One of the main areas of improvement of the armored personnel carrier was the replacement of the engine with a diesel one, which increased fuel economy, as well as survivability of the crew in the event of an attack on the armored vehicle.