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Cashuat

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Chris the speller (talk | contribs) at 15:37, 4 April 2015 (replaced: a three step → a three-step using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Cashuat
TypeArmoured personnel carrier
Place of origin El Salvador/ United States
Service history
In service1985-present
Used bySalvadoran Army
WarsSalvadoran Civil War
Production history
Designed1984
Produced1985
No. built44
VariantsM37
Specifications
Crew3(+7 passengers)

Main
armament
.50 (12.7 mm) M2 HB
Enginediesel
Suspension4x4
Maximum speed 90 km/h

The Cashuat is an armored personnel carrier produced in El Salvador, and based on the Dodge M37B1 (4 × 4)¾ ton truck. The first Cashuat prototype was built and trialed in El Salvador in February 1985. The prototype lacked sufficient ballistic protection, so the Salvadoran government sought assistance from the United States. Seeing that El Salvador didn't have manufacturing facilities capable of building the number of vehicles required, the US Army Tank Automotive Command's RDE Center's Design and Manufacturing Technology Directorate proposed a three-step plan to produce the vehicles:

1. A second, improved prototype would be built in Detroit, and sent to El Salvador to serve as a reference model.
2. The armor would be cut and welded in the United States, pre-assembled with the windshields and side-rails, and shipped as kits to El Salvador.
3. Train a cadre of welders from El Salvador at facilities in the United States.

66 kits were provided for final assembly in El Salvador, one for each of the M37s in the Salvadoran Army's inventory.

It was the first vehicle produced in El Salvador, and his designer was the Colonel Oswaldo Marenco Carballo [1955 - ].

References