The Spanish Army will be able to fly the heaviest version of its VCR Dragón on A400M aircraft

This Wednesday, the Spanish 8x8 VCR Dragón armored vehicle passed a new milestone in its certification process before entering service.

Spain manages to load a VCR Dragon armored vehicle on an A400M plane of the 31st Wing
The new VCR Dragón armored vehicle of the Spanish Army and the controversy over its size

As you may recall, in March the Spanish Air Force carried out load tests of the Sapper Fighting Vehicle (VCZ) version of the Dragon VCR on an Airbus A400M Atlas transport aircraft of the 31st Wing, based in Zaragoza. This version is equipped with a Mini Samson remote-controlled turret, armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun. This turret adds between 140 and 160 kg to the vehicle.

The Spanish Air Force acknowledged that "the dimensions and weight of the vehicle required identifying the necessary tie-down points to secure it inside the aircraft with the necessary safety criteria", but it was found that "the weight of the vehicle complied with all the limitations of the aircraft, both during the loading process and during the flight."

The Air Transport Load Evaluation Cell (CECTA) of the Air Mobility Headquarters of the Spanish Air Force pointed out that this project was the "most complex undertaken to date", but confirmed that The VCZ Dragon, in its combat configuration, "can be transported on a single aircraft and be operational at the destination point."

The next challenge was more complicated. The anti-tank (A/C) variant of the Dragon Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) carries a Guardian 30 robotic turret, which is much larger than the Mini Samson turret of the VCZ. The Guardian 30 is equipped with a 30 mm Bushmaster II Mk.44 main gun, a coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun, a folding Spike anti-tank missile launcher, and 12 smoke grenade launchers. This turret weighs 1,055 kg.

Yesterday, Indra confirmed that Tess Defence successfully carried out this load test. The test was carried out this Wednesday at the Zaragoza Air Base with one of the A400Ms of the 31st Wing, the TK.23-06 (31-26), although the photo you can see above these lines was taken next to another of the aircraft, the TK.23-02 (31-22). You can see here the four photos of the test published by Indra and Tess Defence.

The load test was done without disassembling the Guardian 30 turret, as can be seen in the images.

The loading was carried out "without any special preparation and after the Air Mobility Headquarters had studied the weights and dimensions," Indra said. As we can see, the vehicle could be loaded onto the aircraft in its combat configuration, without having to dismantle the turret.

On their LinkedIn account, Tess Defence published this video of the test yesterday, in which we see the IFV Dragon C/C entering the A400M without problems:

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Photos: Indra / Ejército del Aire / Tess Defense.