The Trojan armoured engineer vehicle (AEV) is a

combat engineering vehicle A military engineering vehicle is a vehicle built for construction work or for the transportation of combat engineering, combat engineers on the battlefield. These vehicles may be modified civilian equipment (such as the Armored bulldozer, armou ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

. It is used to breach minefields and for many other tasks. It is currently in use with the Royal Engineers.

Design

The Trojan armoured engineer vehicle is based on a

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 and Oman. It was designed and built by the British company Vickers Defence Systems (now known ...

tank chassis, but lacks the main armament. In place of the turret, it has a large hydraulic

excavator Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. They are a natural progression fr ...

arm, which can be used to excavate areas, move obstacles, and deposit the

fascine A fascine is a rough bundle of brushwood or other material used for strengthening an earthen structure, or making a path across uneven or wet terrain. Typical uses are protecting the banks of streams from erosion, covering marshy ground and s ...

that the Trojan carries at its rear. The Trojan is usually also fitted with a plough on the front, which enables it to clear mines, either detonating them on contact, or pushing them out of the way to clear a safe channel for following vehicles. For self-defence only, it carries a 7.62mm machine gun. For rapid mine-clearing purposes, the Trojan can also tow a trailer carrying the Python, a rocket-propelled hose similar to the

Giant Viper The Giant Viper was a trailer-mounted, vehicle-pulled, mine clearance system, designed to be deployed in areas containing land mines. It was developed for the British Army in the 1950s. It was designed to be towed behind a Centurion gun tank, FV4003 ...

. This allows for a much quicker way of clearing a path for ground forces. The hose, packed with explosive, is launched across a minefield, and detonates after it hits the ground, clearing a 7-metre wide path for 230 metres.

History

The vehicles were built at BAE Systems Land Systems plant in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is a ...

. The contract was awarded in 2001 to

Vickers Defence Systems Vickers plc was the remainder of Vickers-Armstrongs after the nationalisation of three of its four operating groups: aviation (as a 50% share since 1960 of British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) in 1977), shipbuilding ( Vickers Limited Shipbuilding ...

, who were bought by BAE Systems in 2004. The project was known as the Future Engineer Tank. 33 have been built. It was first used on exercise in May 2007 with the 1st Battalion (Mechanised) of the

Duke of Lancaster's Regiment The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border) (LANCS) is an infantry regiment of the line within the British Army, part of the King's Division. Headquartered in Preston, it recruits throughout the North West of England. Th ...

. A number of Trojans are permanently based in Canada at

British Army Training Unit Suffield The British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) is a British Army unit located at the vast training area of Canadian Forces Base Suffield near Suffield, Alberta, Canada. BATUS is the British Army's largest armoured training facility, and it can ...

in order to allow the Royal Engineers to support Armoured Battle Groups on major exercises. Trojans were first deployed operationally by the

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

in 2009 engaging in their first advance under contact in 2010. During

Operation Moshtarak Operation Moshtarak (Dari for ''Together'' or ''Joint''), also known as the Battle of Marjah, was an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) pacification offensive in the town of Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It involved a com ...

28 Engineer Regiment operated the Trojan attempting to use its traditional

mine clearance Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By cont ...

equipment in the Counter- IED role in support of a major British Army advance.. Its companion vehicle, developed at the same time, is another variant of the Challenger 2, the Titan

armoured bridge layer An armoured vehicle-launched bridge (AVLB) is a combat support vehicle, sometimes regarded as a subtype of military engineering vehicle, designed to assist militaries in rapidly deploying tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles across gap-t ...

, of which 33 have also been built.

References

External links

Royal Engineers
{{ModernUKAFVsNav Military engineering vehicles of the United Kingdom Mine warfare countermeasures BAE Systems land vehicles Vehicles introduced in 2007 Military vehicles introduced in the 2000s

Design

History

See also

References

External links