VCTA1 (Vehiculo Caza Tanque)- Tank Hunting Vehicle
Made in El Salvador, and initially named the BC7A1 (Blindado de Combate), this 6x6 wheeled armored personnel carrier with two HS 404 20mm guns. The “M” Project started around 2004-2005 within Maestranza/Estranfa. The prototype was based on a Ford 5 ton truck, a 4×4 truck with a redesigned cabin much to the HMETT style. In the bed there was an armored rotating “tub” where a twin 20mm gun rested. The original gun system was actually an M55A2 AAA mount, but this was later changed to a new mount, of original design, holding the two HS404 guns recycled from the Ouragan jet fighters.
After a few years, testing was suspended after an internal audit found irregularities, and some $25,000 missing from the funds allocated to the prototype. After this setback, the CIDET was established around 2007 and work on the “new” armored model started as the M Project. The original prototype was stripped, and the “tub” became a fixed item supporting a rotating open-topped turret. It became known as the Lizard due to its shape, but received the official designation of BCTA1, or armored tank-hunter model 1; this was later changed to VCTA1, or tank-hunter vehicle model 1.
The two gun trucks built at local workshops are basically useless for anything other than parades.
VCTA2 (Vehiculo Caza Tanque)- Tank Hunting Vehicle
The VCTA2 (Vehiculo Caza Tanque)- Tank Hunting Vehicle is an armored vehicle with 2x20mm HS404 cannons on a turret. Additional M-60 machine gun. Made in El Salvador, the VCTA2 was based on the Dodge RAM pickup truck chassis. By early 2013 it was becoming clear that the first two VCTA2 were built using the Ford chassis; two more VCTA2 were ready by May 2013. These feature an upgraded 175hp diesel engines, with a redesigned armored body and a newly designed electrically driven turret, and using many of the principles, components and tools of the VCTA1. The turret on the VCTA2 received two HS404s, and it came with a 2-speed transmission, as does the AAA variant, to facilitate target tracking.
The upcoming platoon of four gun trucks built on the M809 trucks chassis and HS-404 guns will provide considerable firepower in a low-level conflict, with proper tactics and doctrines for their use. Pending the introduction of the “new” self-propelled systems, the four tracked and two wheeled M55A2 ADA systems deployed between 1979 and 1992 remain the most powerful support vehicles assembled in El Salvador.
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