Spanish Army (Ejercito de Tierra) - 1980s
In 1982 Spain became the 16th member of the North Atlantic Alliance. It long had drawn attention from the NATO leadership thanks to its important strategic position. Within a few years measures were being taken to increase the combat capabilities of its Armed Forces, including through their outfitting with modern weapons and combat equipment. Greater attention was being given to the basic branch of the Armed Forces, the Army. They were outfitted primarily with weapons of American, French and West German manufacture. At the same time, some models of weapons, especially light arms, were produced in Spain itself.
In spite of new procurement programs, introduced in the mid-1980s, arms and equipment were not in sufficient supply, and they were not up to the standards of other NATO armies. Although the military felt that it was essential to adopt a new main battle tank for the 1990s, economic considerations led to a postponement of the decision and the upgrading of the AMX-30s with new West German-designed diesel engines and transmissions, reactive armor panels, and laser firecontrol systems.
The inventory of medium tanks was made up of nearly 700 United States models dating back to the Korean War, as well as about 300 AMX-30s of French design but manufactured mostly in Spain between 1974 and 1983. The tank inventory numbered more than 1,000 vehicles in 1984, of which there were some 300 French AMX-30 tanks, 130 American M48 tanks, 390 M47 tanks, and up to 200 M41 light tanks. The AMX-30 tanks were manufactured by the Santa Barbara firm under a French license. In the latter half of the 1970's Spanish specialists began modernizing the M48 and M47 tanks (which were designated the M48E and M47E), the basic purpose of which was to increase their firepower and mobility (the 90-mm guns on the M48 were replaced with the British 105-mm rifled gun). The fire control system [FCS], which includes a laser range finder and electronic ballistic computer, contains around 70 percent components of the FCS of American M60A3 tanks produced by the Hughes firm. The majority of elements of this system were manufactured in Spain under an American license. In addition, diesel engines and hydromechanical transmissions had been installed on both tanks in place of gasoline engines, which allowed increasing the speed and range.
Spain intended to purchase the West German Leopard-2 tanks for the Army after the country entered NATO. It was planned as of 1984 to produce a considerable number of them in Spain under license from the Krauss-Maffei firm. The French Panhard AML-90 and AML-60 armored vehicles, which numbered 80 and 60 respectively, were used to perform reconnaissance along with the American M41 light tanks. They differed only in weapons. Infantry was transported primarily in American M113 tracked APC's (around 500 units). There also was a certain number of French Panhard M3 wheeled APC's.
In the late 1970's the Army began to receive the BMR-600 amphibious wheeled APC's developed and produced in Spain. Initially it was planned to purchase approximately 500 of the APC's and various vehicles based on them, including reconnaissance, command and staff, and medical vehicles. By 1988 armored troop carriers included about 1,200 American-made M-113s as well as AML-60s and AML-90s of French design. At that time, the Spanish army was in the process of being equipped with more than 1,200 BMRs, a six-wheeled armored vehicle manufactured in Spain under French license.
A variety of towed and self-propelled artillery was available, ranging from 105mm to 203mm guns and howitzers. Artillery weapons were primarily represented by American models. As of 1984 the Army had a total of more than 1,000 self-propelled and towed field artillerypieces in calibers 105-203.2 mm, including the American M108, M109, M110 and M107 SPG [self-propelled artillery mounts]. The Territorial Defense Troops also had a certain number of obsolete 122-mm and 105-mm howitzers and 75-mm guns of Spanish manufacture. The D-10 and E-21 multiple launch rocket systems [MLRS] (10 and 21 rails respectively) were intended for delivering strikes against area targets. The caliber of the free-flight rockets is 300 mm and 216 mm and the range of fire is 17 and 14.5 km. The launchers were mounted on the chassis of a five-ton truck. These rockets were fitted with fragmentation-HE, incendiary and smoke warheads. There also was the G-3 381-mm MLRS (eight rails) with a range of fireup to 23 km. Spanish specialists also have developed a test model of the Teruel 140-mm 40-tube system, undergoing testing in the early 1980s. Mortars had seen considerable development in Spain. The ground troops were outfitted with mortars of Spanish production in the calibers of 60, 81, 105and 120 mm. There were some 400units of the latter caliber.
The air defense of ground forces depended largely on outdated Bofors guns and on aging Hawk and Nike missiles. As of 1987, a start had been made on overcoming deficiencies in this area by acquiring French Roland missiles, to be mounted on AMX-30 chassis, and Italian Aspide missiles for fixed defense. Air defense weapons included missile systems and tube artillery. The American Nike Hercules and Improved Hawk SAM systems, with which it is possible to hit airborne targets at ranges up to 140 and 40 km and at altitudes of 45 and 18 km respectively, were in the Spanish Army inventory. As of 1984, it was planned to purchase 96 American Chaparral short-range SAM systems (1,760 missiles) and 28 Swiss Skyguard-Sparrow systems for the ground troops. Towed anti-aircraft guns in the calibers of 90, 40, 35 and 20 mm, primarily of Swedish and Swiss production, were widely used to combat low-flying targets. For example, in the subunits of troop air defense there were some 280 Swedish L70 40-mm automatic guns. The M63 35-mm twin antiaircraft mount (the Oerlikon GDF-001) was considered an effective weapon.
The main antitank weapons were recoilless rifles; 88.9mm rocket launchers; Milan, Cobra, and Dragon missiles; and a small number of TOW (tube-launched, optically tracked, wireguided ) and HOT (high subsonic, optically guided, tube-launched) antitank missile systems. A considerable quantity of additional antitank missiles and rocket launchers was on order. Anti-tank weapons included antitank rocket launchers (RPG's), recoilless guns and antitank missile systems (ATGMs). The M-65 88.9-mm RPG (weighing 5.4 kg) was designed for combating armored targets at ranges up to 400 meters. The shaped charge of the rocket penetrates armor some 330 mm thick. Testing had begun on the C-90B rocket launcher, with which it was planned to replace the M40A1 106-mm recoilless guns produced in Spain under an American license. Effective fire could be conducted from this RPG against moving tanks at a distance up to 200 meters, and against stationary targets up to 350 m (the armor penetration is around 450 mm). The Cobra, Dragon, Milan, TOW and HOT ATGM systems were in army subunits (the HOT ATGM's are mounted on BO-105P fire support helicopters).
Small arms were represented by the following models: the Super Star 9-mm pistol, the Star 9-mm machine pistols in the modifications Z-45, Z-62 andZ-70/B, the Cetme Mod C 7.62-mm automatic rifle, the Getme Mod L 5.56-mm automatic rifle, the West German MG42/59 andMG3 7.62-mm general purpose machine guns and the American M1919A4 and M2HB Browning machineguns of 7.62-mm and 12.7-mm caliber respectively. The Cetme Mod L automatic rifle, which became operational in the Spanish Army in the early 1980's, was the most advanced. An experimental model of a 5.56-mm light machinegun (belt capacity of 200 cartridges) had been developed.
The army aircraft inventory in 1988 included about 180 helicopters, about 40 of which were armed with 20mm guns or HOT antitank missiles. Army aviation subunits had some 150 helicopters of various types in 1984, of which there were 50 American Iroquois UH-1B/H multirole helicopters and 60 West German BO-105P helicopters (28 were in the antitank version, armed with the HOT ATGM1s). There also were American Kiowa OH-58A reconnaissance helicopters and the Chinook CH-47D assault transport helicopters.
On the whole, the Spanish Army was out-fitted with a rather large amount of varied weaponry, but many models were already obsolete. Meanwhile the Spanish Army command believed that implementation of a program for modernizing the Armed Forces (during 1983-1990) would permit a substantial improvement in combat capabilities of the country's ground troops in as much as the country joined NATO.
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