Abstract: A vacuum plasma spray system includes a spray chamber, a motor-driven manipulator including a drive mechanism and a respective control system, and a plasma gun mounted on the manipulator in the spray chamber. The drive mechanism comprises three drive groups of which a first drive group facilitates upward and downward motion of the gun for adjusting spray distance and second and third drive groups facilitate swiveling motions of the gun around horizontal axes. The manipulator has a hermetically sealed outer housing and a hermetically sealed inner housing contained in the outer housing. The inner housing contains the second and third drive groups, protrudes into the chamber and carries the gun. The first drive group is arranged at least partially in the outer housing to effect lifting or lowering of the inner housing thereby adjusting spray distance.