On Monday, the Spanish Council of Ministers approved full-rate production of the first 348 wheeled combat armored vehicles under the VCR 8×8 program.

According to a recent service news release, Spain’s government approved the building of the first 348 VCR 8×8 vehicles – out of a 1000- armoured fighting vehicles for the Spanish Army for a total amount of 2 billion euros.

The program of Wheeled Combat Vehicle (VCR in Spanish) 8×8 has as main aim to obtain a combat system which includes the new technical solutions to face the evolution of threats and which will become the key for this new organic structure of the Spanish Army. It contemplates a family of: armoured, wheeled, middleweight, polyvalent, versatile, with a high capacity of protection, lethal nature and operational movility vehicles, (thanks to a reduced expense of fuel and its ability to move using different types of grounds).

The new vehicles are designed by General Dynamics European Land Systems-Santa Barbara to replace ageing fleet of the BMR armored personnel carrier.

The VCR program will have a special impact in Asturias, Seville, Guipúzcoa and Madrid, where the creation of 650 direct jobs and another 1,000 indirect ones is expected.

The program will additionally generate industrial property for the national industry and will contribute to preserve national sovereignty over a product that represents an essential capacity for national defense.