The prototype shown in this picture was presented in 2013 at HOMESEC Salon in Madrid. The vehicle is esentially the same entered into service, although the headlights were different from the serial model.This is the standard VAMTAC ST5 BN.3 that serves with the Spanish Army and the Spanish Navy Marines. On this occasion it has installed a remote controlled weapons station with a 12.7mm M2 machine gun. This vehicle can cross water courses of 1.5 meters deep without any preparation.The protection of VAMTAC ST5 BN.3 is based on a modular type survival capsule equipped with internal spall-liners to avoid internal fragmentation in case of receiving an impact. The vehicle weighs 9.5 tons in service and has a 3,200 cc, 6 cylinder, Steyr turbo-diesel engine that consumes up to 35 liters per 100 km. With its 140 liters capacity fuel tank the vehicle’s range is about 500 km on road.The Spanish Navy Marines made a requirement to have a modified variant that would allow them to be landed directly on the beach, for which it needed a vehicle with specific wading equipment. This variant its known as “VSP” (Vadeo Sin Preparacion), (wading without preparation), and was ready in 2015, starting immediately the tests, which ended satisfactorily.Here we see one of the VAMTAC ST5 BN.3 from the Spanish Navy Marines during a military parade in 2017. This vehicle has installed a 40mm SB LAG-40 automatic grenade launcher and towed a trailer with a rigid type pneumatic boat. The payload capacity its 1,500 kg inside the vehicle or 2,000 kg towed.The Spanish Navy Marines have placed an order for 70 VAMTAC ST5 BN.3, of which there are about 25 currently in service. In addition to the armoured modular cabin, the protection is completed with ballistic steel plates, bulletproof glass with armoured frame and ceramic armour outer plates.This Spanish Navy Marines’s VAMTAC ST5 BN.3 can be armed with 7.62 or 12.7mm machine guns, (as in this image), with 40mm grenade launchers and even with 20, 25 and 30mm guns. The protection against mines allows it to withstand an explosion under the center of the vehicle of mines with 6 kg of explosive.
