Spain Receives Battalion-Level Set of Dragon Wheeled IFVs

The Spanish Army has received 40 Dragon 8×8 wheeled infantry fighting vehicles – roughly equivalent to a battalion set – as part of the Fuerza 35 modernization program.

Spain’s Ministry of Defence announced this.

Tess Defence transferred the vehicles at the Álvarez de Sotomayor base.

Defence Minister Margarita Robles, who has repeatedly criticized the program over delays, attended the official acceptance ceremony together with Secretary of State for Defence Amparo Valcarce and the Chief of the Army General Staff (JEME), Army General Amador Enseñat.

“Our service members are the most important thing. Thanks to this program, the interoperability of the Spanish Army is being improved, as well as its reliability and responsibility in missions under NATO, the EU, and the UN,” the Defence Minister said.

According to Infodefensa, the induction of the new combat vehicles into service was accompanied by a training program for drivers, vehicle commanders, gunners, and instructors, as well as personnel responsible for their technical maintenance. To ensure training under optimal conditions, simulators and a combat-turret training system were also delivered.

In addition, this required expanding initial logistical support: the infrastructure at the Álvarez de Sotomayor base was upgraded, and the necessary equipment was procured to deploy a mobile maintenance echelon.

Dragon 8×8

The Dragon wheeled combat vehicle is a Spanish localized version of the Mowag Piranha V armored vehicle, developed by the Swiss division of General Dynamics.

The vehicle features an 8×8 wheeled configuration and is equipped with a modern hydropneumatic suspension system. Powered by a 620-hp Scania DC13 diesel engine, the 33-ton vehicle can reach a top road speed of up to 100 km/h.

The Dragon is offered in variants equipped with a machine-gun combat module, as well as versions armed with a 30-mm automatic cannon and anti-tank guided missiles.

The Dragon provides all-round protection against 14.5 mm rounds and fragments from 155 mm artillery shells at a distance of 25 meters. The vehicle is also protected against the detonation of 10 kg of TNT under a wheel, corresponding to Level 4 of the NATO STANAG 4569 standard. With additional armor on the frontal and side aspects, the Dragon is expected to withstand fire from a 25 mm automatic cannon.

The Dragon 8×8 armored vehicle will form the backbone of the future armored vehicle fleet under the Fuerza 35 rearmament program. It is intended to gradually replace the tracked M113 armored personnel carriers and the wheeled Pegaso VEC-M1 armored vehicles, which have been in service for more than 40 years.

In August 2020, Spain’s Ministry of Defence signed a contract worth more than €2 billion for the delivery of 348 wheeled combat vehicles over a five-year period. According to the delivery schedule, the first pilot batch of wheeled IFVs was delivered in 2022.

Meanwhile, Spanish military publications have repeatedly criticized the program, which has encountered numerous technical and organizational difficulties during its implementation. Reported issues include excessive vehicle weight, rear ramp issues, faulty pulleys, and unstable powertrains. There have also been reports of difficulties in passing trials due to failures in turret systems, the running gear, and various mechanical and electronic components.

“The attempt to localize up to 70 percent of Dragon components led to a catastrophic fragmentation of the program: bottlenecks, incompatible systems, and integration that simply does not work. The Tess Defence consortium failed to fulfill its integration role. The result is a systemic failure affecting everything from the powerplant to the turret, including combat and electronic systems,” Defensa y Seguridad concluded.