VAL Cashuat

     Notes:  This is an El Salvadoran light APC built on the chassis of the old M-37B1 3/4-ton truck of World War II vintage.  The vehicles were assembled in El Salvador using existing M-37B1 trucks and kits imported from the US.  These were employed as low-cost troop carriers, convoy escort vehicles, and scout vehicles.  They have not been exported; indeed, no other country has expressed any interest in such a primitive carrier. I have not been able to discover whether or not El Salvador is still using these vehicles.

     The Cashuat has had steel armor add-on panels added, as well as mesh to pre-detonate HEAT warheads, such as the RPG-2 and RPG-7 which are so common in Latin America.  This primitive spaced armor stops only one extra die of damage instead of two dice.  Kevlar blankets are added inside this armor to stop spalling, which also adds to the armor.  The armor is surprisingly effective given its thin profile, due to the use of duel-hardness sandwich armor on the sides and front. The driver and commander have an armored door, with bullet-resistant glass; the windscreen is also made of bullet-resistant glass, and in the windshield frame on the commander’s side is a firing port. The troop section is in the rear and simple, with seats facing inwards.  The vehicle is open-topped, but there are three firing ports on each side on a chamfered section at the top of the troop compartment.  These firing ports are simple shuttered holes in the armor.  The rear is closed off with an armored door in the rear, and a firing port on either side of the door. The engine is a Detroit Diesel 353 110-horsepower diesel, replacing the original gasoline engine.

     Two versions of this vehicle exist.  The first is troop carrier; these vehicles have no armament.  The second type is the weapons carrier; these vehicles have a one-man armored cupola directly to the rear of the driver and commander with a twin weapon mount and a machinegun with an AV2 gun shield on either side of the troop compartment.  Recent upgrades have improved off-road performance, but the Cashuat is more an on-road than an off-road vehicle.

Vehicle

Price

Fuel Type

Load

Veh Wt

Crew

Mnt

Night Vision

Radiological

Troop Carrier

$4,855

D, A

900 kg

4.5 tons

2+8

2

Headlights

Open

Weapons Carrier

$37,767

D, A

455 kg

4.2 tons

2+4

2

Headlights

Open

 

Vehicle

Tr Mov

Com Mov

Fuel Cap

Fuel Cons

Config

Susp

Armor

Troop Carrier

230/56

53/13

90

42

Stnd

W(2)

HF2Sp  HS2Sp  HR2*

Weapons Carrier

242/59

56/14

90

39

CiH

W(2)

TF2  TS2  TR2  HF2Sp  HS2Sp  HR2*

 

Vehicle

Fire Control

Stabilization

Armament

Ammunition

Weapons Carrier

None

None

2xM-2HB or 2xMk 19 or 1xM-2HB and 1xMk 19, 2xM-60

1000x.50 or 500x.50 and 160x40mm; 1000x7.62mm

*The troop and crew compartment is open-topped.  The front, rear, and sides are covered by mesh armor, similar to a chain-link fence; this primitive spaced armor stops 1D6 damage, instead of 2D6.