The Army has announced its plans to modernise its armoured and mechanised vehicles that include ongoing programmes such as the VCR 8×8 Dragon or the VAC (Chain Support Vehicle) and other projects that do not yet have funding such as the modernisation of the Leopard 2E battle tanks, a need already expressed in different forums.
The medium-term future also involves other programmes that fall into this category of needs or priorities of which there were not many details to date. This is the case of the replacement of the Leopard 2A4 in service with the most modern version of this tank, the 2A8.
The Army itself has been in charge of revealing this week its plans to acquire new Leopard 2A8s – in an undisclosed figure – at the International Armoured Vehicles Conference (IAV) that brings together representatives of the defence industry and the armies in London every year at this time. This program, which still has to pass milestones before its approval, would allow the decommissioning of the operational Leopard 2A4s.
Spain has about 80 Leopard 2A4 battle tanks, after the donation of about thirty to Ukraine. Of these, around 25 are stored and out of service at the Army barracks in Casetas, a neighbourhood of Zaragoza, from where the tanks for Ukraine have left.