Required Protection from Mine and IED Explosions Ratified

General Dynamics European Land Systems – Santa Bárbara Sistemas (GDELS-SBS) has successfully launched the design certification campaign for the mine and IED protection of the 8×8 Dragón VCR family of armoured vehicles.

Maximized survivability is one of the most demanding requirements of the Dragón programme- thus the test campaign, which began on 19 April, is an important milestone. It is the first time a campaign of this type has taken place in Spain for a vehicle of this category and this level of protection, and was conducted in line with appropriate NATO standards. It started with the construction of a rig representing the combat engineer version (VCZ) of the Dragón in a mine incident. The welded hull was taken from the series production line, and the entire certification campaign consists of five tests, including two IED explosions and tests with a second rig in the IFV (VCI) configuration, with a 30mm turret. The certification process is part of the contract between the Spanish MoD and TESS Defence, a consortium formed by GDELS-SBS, INDRA, SAPA and Escribano Mechanical and Engineering to provide the Spanish Army with a new, highly protected and versatile wheeled combat vehicle.

The campaign has provided conclusive validation of extensive in-house design and numerical simulations by GDELS-SBS engineers, using predictive models of the Dragón platform. Based on these calculations, the characteristics of the structure were ratified and, furthermore, the calculations provided design guidelines for the assembly of all equipment and interior elements to prevent failure under extreme circumstances. Resilience and protection are of vital importance when it comes to seat design, for example. Post-test inspection of the rig, and analysis of the installed instrumentation, confirmed the platform successfully mitigated the impact of a mine explosion, ensuring crew survival and minimising injury risk.