Inside UROVESA, the company that makes the VAMTACs of the Spanish Armed Forces

As you know, this blog is edited from Vigo. I am a Galician who is very proud of his homeland for various reasons.

VAMTAC SK-95, closely reviewing the new artillery truck of the Spanish Army
The deployment of the Cervus anti-drone system of the RAAA 71 of the Spanish Army in Slovakia

In addition to beautiful landscapes, fabulous gastronomy and people known for their hospitality, Galicia is home to an excellent defense industry that for me, as a Galician, is a source of pride: UROVESA (URO Vehículos Especiales S.A.), founded in 1981 by engineer José Sierra Fernández, a veteran of another famous company founded by a Galician: Barreiros). With a workforce of almost 300 employees, UROVESA is based in the town of Valga (Pontevedra) and owes its name to an ancient breed of bull, the aurochs, which became extinct in Europe in the 17th century.

This company became famous initially for its off-road vehicles specialised in fighting forest fires. Its trucks dedicated to this task are already a classic in the Galician rural world. In 1984, UROVESA won its first tender to supply vehicles to the Spanish Ministry of Defence, specifically the U-115 PM off-road trucks, with a capacity for 2 tonnes of cargo. Later, UROVESA also supplied the Spanish Armed Forces with the more modern MAT-18.16, an off-road truck that is still used by various units of the Army.

Without a doubt, the product that made UROVESA famous internationally was the VAMTAC (Tactical High Mobility Vehicle). The first model, the Rebeco, began to be manufactured in 1998 for the Spanish Armed Forces, giving way in 2004 to the VAMTAC 23 and in 2013 to the VAMTAC ST5. In Spain it is used by the three armies, by the Military Emergency Unit (UME), the Civil Guard and the National Police. In addition, the VAMTAC has become an export success, being used by Belgium, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, the Dominican Republic, Singapore and Malaysia.

This Monday, the Spanish Ministry of Defense published a series of photos of a visit by the minister to the UROVESA facilities in Valga. You can see some of these photos here.

Here we see the VAMTAC ST5 assembly line. The first two rows are apparently vehicles for the Army.

An image of the third row of the assembly line. On the right, we see a VAMTAC ST5 with three-colour camouflage, destined for the Spanish Marines. Behind this vehicle we see the new VAMTACs in their armoured ambulance variant that the Army is incorporating.

A VAMTAC ST5 BN3, on the left, an armoured model fitted with a mobile turret that can be fitted with a 12.7 mm Browning M-2 machine gun or a 40 mm LAG-40 grenade launcher. On the right is a VAMTAC ST5 2PH, which can be fitted with various modules on its rear.

Another image of the VAMTAC ST5 assembly line. Currently, the Spanish Armed Forces have more than 3,200 active VAMTACs, with the Army being its largest operator, with around 3,000 vehicles.

The VAM-TL, also called VAMTAC LTV, a vehicle that I already told you about here. It is a light version of the VAMTAC, weighing 4.2 tons, with a 150-170 hp engine and different variants. The vehicle in the image would be aimed at special operations units.