Spanish tracked carrier turns into a heavy drone hunter

A tracked ASCOD cargo carrier from General Dynamics European Land Systems has appeared at Spain’s Atlas 26 counter-drone exercise fitted with launch containers for ARMMO’s Bandit-X interceptor drones, turning the armored logistics vehicle into a mobile platform for hunting enemy drones.

A screengrab from video shared by Spanish defense watcher ArmaduraXXI shows the ASCOD-based heavy vehicle carrying box-shaped launchers stamped with ARMMO’s logo on its open rear deck, with one of the box lids raised as if ready to release an interceptor.

The vehicle was on display during Atlas 26, which Spain’s Defence Staff is running from Oct. 19 to 23 at the Médano del Loro training range in Huelva, bringing together the Spanish Army, Navy, Air and Space Force, Civil Guard and National Police under a single command to test joint tactics against small drones. The exercise is organized by the Spanish Army’s Anti-Aircraft Artillery Command, whose head, Brig. Gen. Manuel César Arienza Fernández, briefed on its goals on the second day, and it is evaluating both soft-kill systems that jam or spoof drones and hard-kill weapons that destroy them, alongside defense companies and universities.

Bandit-X is a hard-kill interceptor drone developed by ARMMO Defense Technologies, a company based in Spain’s Extremadura region, and it is designed to fly out, find and physically destroy hostile drones rather than jam them. ARMMO says the current version flies at more than 360 km/h (224 mph), carries up to 0.8 kg (1.8 pounds) of payload and reaches 50 to 60 km (31 to 37 miles), with onboard autonomous navigation, terminal guidance that works without satellite navigation and the ability to operate in swarms, while a planned upgrade aims for 420 km/h (261 mph) and a 1 kg payload.

The interceptor has moved quickly from prototype to military trials, and in June it passed live tests in front of military operators in Slovakia during NATO exercises under the alliance’s Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative, validating the full cycle of takeoff, interception and recovery. ARMMO has since received a NATO Stock Number for Bandit-X, which makes it easier for alliance militaries to order and support the system, and the company also showed the interceptor on an autonomous catamaran at Eurosatory 2026.

Putting the launchers on a tracked ASCOD gives the interceptors a protected, cross-country carrier that can keep up with armored units in the field, which matters as small drones have become one of the biggest threats to troops and vehicles near the front line. The ASCOD family is already the backbone of Spain’s tracked fleet through the Pizarro infantry fighting vehicle, and the Spanish Army plans to buy 349 new multi-purpose tracked vehicles from the TESS Defence consortium, expected to be based on the ASCOD 2, in a program worth around €2 billion that includes logistics, command, mortar and recovery versions.