The Army’s TOA M113 armored vehicles starred in some of the batches The largest military aid that Spain has sent to UkraineThe first shipment left the port of Bilbao in early 2023 and consisted of 20 units properly repaired and ready to operate on the front of Zelensky’s country against that of Putin.
On several occasions, the Margarita Roblen’s Defense Ministry sent a total of 65 of these vehicles specially designed for the movement of troops across the battlefield. In fact, the acronym TOA means a tracked armoured transport vehicle that, a priori, has basic weapons for protection.
In February, coinciding with the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Spain donated 10 TOA armoured vehicles, two of them are used as ambulancesan expedition that was followed by several fire-fighting vehicles, snowplows and personnel carriers, as well as two light boats, an electric generator and a water treatment plant.
Spanish TOA and Guardian 1.5 in Ukraine
However, the latest images from Ukraine show that some of the TOAs sent by Spain They integrate in their highest part the Guardian 1.5 turret manufactured by Escribano of Madrid. Mechanical engineering. This is an advanced weapons system that increases the attack and defense capability of the armored vehicle by several integers.
So far, no images of the Guardian 1.5 being integrated into vehicles in Ukraine have emerged, although its presence there was leaked months ago. acquisition for an unknown number of units This would have been done in secret and is a shipment prior to the one announced by Robles last May, as EL ESPAÑOL – Omicrono has learned.
armored transport
He The M113 was developed in the 50s of the last century. to relieve some armored vehicles that did not meet the technical requirements of the US Army. The company in charge of the project was FMC, seeking a balance between the protection of the occupants of the armored vehicle and the weight necessary to be transported by plane.
It didn’t take them long to find the right key and In 1960, the first unit entered serviceThe M113’s goal was to be a lightweight, tracked personnel carrier platform – capable of seating up to 10 fully equipped passengers – that was armored, reliable, and armed. Additionally, it was designed to be airlifted by the C-130 Hercules.
Spanish TOA in Ukraine with Guardian 1.5 turret
After its stint in the Vietnam War, the M113 became a success and approximately 80,000 units were built over the years, with the United States leading the stockpile with over 6,000 units received. They were later created different variants to meet customer needs such as Argentina, Australia, Switzerland, Israel or Germany.
For their part, the first units of the The army began arriving between 1963 and 1964 until reaching approximately 1,300 assets. Currently, Spain has 1,250 inventoried M113 TOAs, half of which will remain after the gradual withdrawal announced by the Ministry of Defense in 2021.
The last major TOA upgrade program began in 2015 and focused on renewing the vehicles’ suspension; a process that ended in 2023. Over all these decades The military created variants and sub-variants with different purposes such as serving as an ambulance, command post or attack.
In this last category, new weapons systems have been installed over the years, with improvements over the machine gun that the TOA originally carried. For example, Addition of a 120 millimeter mortarThe Army decided in 2017 to modify certain units to make them compatible with the launch of Spike missiles.
Detail of the Guardian 1.5 turret integrated into the Spanish TOA in Ukraine
The TOA M113 has a length of 4.9 meters with a width of 2.7 meters and a height above the machine gun of 2.5. Its 6-cylinder diesel engine gives it a range of more than 400 kilometers at a top speed of 64 kilometers per hour – on paved areas – and a combat weight of 12 tonsIt also has an amphibious capability thanks to the tracks acting as propellers.
Guardian Turret 1.5
The Guardian 1.5″is a lightweight and compact remote weapon station “which offers versatility for day and night operations,” as the manufacturer describes it. It can operate with different calibers such as 12.7 mm, 14.5 mm, 7.62 mm, 5.56 mm and 40 mm AGL. The system has the ability to also integrate 76. mm smoke launcher and ballistic protection.
Ukrainian soldier next to the Guardian 1.5
It is a system designed to “be integrated into a wide range of platforms and vehicles,” they say. “Providing excellent short and medium range defense capabilitieswith high shooting accuracy.”
The turret has a 2-axis gyroscope with dual elevation and azimuth stabilization. It can integrate GPS geolocation systems, is compatible with external C4I systems, has a ballistic calculator for high shooting accuracy and a training simulator.
Regarding the electro-optical system, the Guardian 1.5 features a cooled infrared camera which is combined with a high-definition visible camera and a laser rangefinder. This gives it detection up to 14.3 kilometers in the visible spectrum and identification at 7.6 km.
