The FV434 is the Armoured Repair Vehicle variant of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

FV430 series The FV430 series covers a number of armoured fighting vehicles of the British Army, all built on the same chassis. The most common is the FV432 armoured personnel carrier. Although the FV430 series has been in service since the 1960s, and som ...

armoured fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by vehicle armour, armour, generally combining operational mobility with Offensive (military), offensive a ...

s. Introduced in the 1960s primarily as a means of quickly changing

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MBT power packs in the field, it is operated by the

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is the maintenance arm of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's professional engineers". History Prior t ...

(REME). It is still used by the REME.

Description

Officially designated FV434 Carrier, Maintenance, Full Tracked, the FV434's primary role is to repair disabled and damaged vehicles, but it also has a limited recovery capability. It is fitted with a crane (capable of lifting up to 3 tons) to assist its work in repairing armoured and un-armoured vehicles. The FV434 is capable of changing other FV430 series power packs, however, it is unable to handle the power pack the British Army's

Challenger 2 The FV4034 Challenger 2 (MoD designation "CR2") is a third generation British main battle tank (MBT) in service with the armies of the United Kingdom, Oman, and Ukraine. It was designed by Vickers Defence Systems (now Rheinmetall BAE Systems ...

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- this is done by Challenger armoured recovery vehicle in forward areas and soft skin repair vehicles in base areas. In addition to the crane, the FV434 is fitted with a fold-away work bench to the rear of the vehicle. Like its personnel carrier version, it is capable of amphibious operations with the aid of a flotation screen. Once in the water, it is propelled by its tracks at up to 5.6 km/h. It is crewed by four soldiers: commander, driver and two fitters.

Examples on display

* The

REME Museum The REME Museum, also known as the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Museum, is a military museum of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) – the corps of the British Army responsible for the maintenance, servici ...

has an example of a FV434. * The Norfolk Tank Museum has a restored and running example currently on display. * The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum has a running example currently on display.

References

Citations

Janes Military Vehicles and Logistics

Bibliography

*Foss, C. and Gander, T. ''Jane's Military Vehicles and Ground Support Equipment'' (1984)

External links

REME Museum of Technology

Operators

* - ? * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fv432 Amphibious armoured fighting vehicles Cold War armoured fighting vehicles of the United Kingdom Tracked armoured fighting vehicles Military recovery vehicles Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s