Spain will spend more than $2 billion to develop and produce 394 armoured vehicles to replace the legendary US M113 armoured personnel carriers

The Spanish Army is abandoning the legendary American M113 armoured personnel carriers. The country's authorities are investing several billion dollars in a programme to develop a new armoured vehicle.

Here's What We Know

The Government of Spain allowed the Ministry of Defence of the country to start a tender. It is expected that the Spanish consortium, which includes companies Indra, Santa Barbara Sistemas, Escribano, Tess Defence and Sapa Placencia, will win the tender.

The new armoured vehicle will be based on the ASCOD (Austrian Spanish Cooperative Development) infantry fighting vehicle. It was created by the Austrian company Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug AG and the Spanish company Santa Barbara Sistemas. The Spanish version of ASCOD is called Pizarro.

The Iberian Peninsula country wants 394 new armoured vehicles in various modifications. The cost of the programme will be just over $2 billion including development.

Source: Infodefensa