The tank is the main striking force of the ground forces, so their loss is painful for any army in the world. Main battle tanks are too expensive to destroy damaged vehicles or throw them onto the battlefield. Realizing this, for the evacuation of this type of military equipment, special vehicles were created - BREM (armored recovery vehicle). Modern ARVs are designed to evacuate damaged and stuck tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, self-propelled guns and other pieces of equipment from the battlefield, including under fire from a potential enemy. In addition, ARRV is able to carry out the necessary maintenance and repair of equipment in the field.
Today, armored recovery vehicles play a rather important role in the combat use of mechanized units and have the necessary set of additional equipment. Often this type of machine is equipped with a lifting device, traction winches, welding equipment, etc. For self-defense, they are usually equipped with large-caliber or conventional machine guns. The pinnacle of the evolution of ARVs today are vehicles built on the basis of MBT.
American heavy armored vehicle HERCULES
The US Army still relies on its modernized veteran M88A2 HERCULES ARV for the most demanding and demanding jobs. HERCULES stands for Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift and Evacuation System - a system for the evacuation and repair of heavy general purpose military equipment. This machine was developed by Bowen-McLaughlin-York (BMY) back in the late 1950s. Subsequently, this company was acquired by the British corporation BAE Systems. In 1977, the modernization of the M88A1 was born, and the M88A2 version began to be developed in 1991.
All of them are based on the original version of the vehicle, built on the basis of the M48 and M60 PATTON tanks. On the M88A2 HERCULES version, the winch power was increased by 55%, and the lifting capacity was increased by 40%. At the same time, the crew of the car was reduced from 4 to 3 people. Currently, the tracked ARV M88A2 is the only vehicle in the American army that is able to independently evacuate the American main battle tank Abrams from the battlefield.
The total weight of the ARV is 63.5 tons. At the same time, the vehicle is equipped with an AVDS 1790-8CR diesel engine with a capacity of 1050 hp, which allows it to tow heavy military equipment weighing up to 70 tons, in particular M1A1, M1A2 or Leopard tanks, as well as other heavy combat vehicles, such as bridgelayers. The M88A2 has a maximum speed of 40 km / h and a range of 322 km.
To date, BAE Systems has received orders from the US Armed Forces under the Hercules program totaling $ 1.4 billion. For 2011, the US Army received 394 ARVs M88A2 HERCULES with a total need for 607 vehicles of this class. The US Marine Corps received 75 units of such military equipment.
Polish armored vehicles WZT-3 and WZT-4
If we talk about export champions, then we can talk about the Polish WZT-3 armored vehicle, which is built on the basis of the PT-91 MBT, which in turn is an adaptation of the Soviet T-72M1 tank, produced in Poland under license. Currently, the main customer of the WZT-3 ARV is India, which on January 17, 2012 signed a contract with Poland for the supply of 204 repair and recovery vehicles of this class. The deal was valued at $ 275 million. BREM WZT-3 will replenish almost 350 of these machines, which India acquired from Poland under a contract back in 1999. All these vehicles are designed to serve the Indian fleet of T-72 and T-90 tanks.
The conclusion of this deal may indicate the deepening and expansion of the Indian-Polish military-industrial cooperation. This also concerns, among other things, work on the creation of a new armored vehicle based on the Indian ARJUN tank. If we talk about Poland, then this country currently presents on the market two heavy armored vehicles built on the basis of the PT-91 and PT-91M tanks (WZT-3 and the newest WZT-4, respectively).
BREM WZT-4 has a mass of 45 tons, the crew of the vehicle consists of 4 people. This recovery vehicle is a significant upgrade from the previous version. This ARV is controlled by the steering wheel, and the power of the power plant has been increased to 1000 hp. The WZT-4 is equipped with an automatic transmission, which, in combination with a powerful new engine, allows the car to accelerate to 65 km / h on the highway. For ease of operation, the valve was installed on the opposite side of the exhaust manifold. The machine is equipped with a powerful hydraulic winch, which is able to create a pulling force of 300 kN (30 t) with a single rope, but with a chain hoist it can pull with a force of up to 90 tons (for comparison, the WZT-3 has a maximum pulling force of 84 tons). The length of the cable in the winch is 200 meters.
BREM WZT-3 of the Indian army
In addition, the machine is equipped with an auxiliary winch with a pulling force of 20 kN, as well as a cable 400 meters long. The minimum reach of the crane is 5.8 meters, the maximum is 8 meters. The crane is capable of lifting up to 20 tons of cargo and can rotate 360 degrees. The last component of the new equipment of this ARV is the dozer blade, which has a width of 3605 mm. Also, the machine is equipped with an auxiliary power unit with a capacity of 16, 1 kW, which is used to operate the air conditioning system and generate electricity. Among other things, the car is equipped with: 2 radio transceivers, optical-electrical and infrared sensors, GPS / inertial navigation system combinations, a 12.7-mm heavy machine gun, smoke grenades, a WMD protection system and a fire extinguishing system.
German BREM BUFFALO
The German BREM BUFFALO, as you might guess, is built on the basis of the very successful worldwide main battle tank LEOPARD 2. The BREM Bergepanzer 3 Büffel / Buffalo or BPz 3 according to the German classification was created by order of the armed forces of Germany and the Netherlands. This vehicle is designed to evacuate damaged and stuck tanks and other military equipment from the battlefield, as well as to carry out various types of repair work in the field. Today this BREM is in service with 8 states of the world.
The BREM BUFFALO package includes a winch, a hydraulic crane and a dozer blade. Due to the presence of a hydraulic crane on board, this ARV can easily replace the entire tower or the engine-transmission compartment (MTO) on the Leopard 2 tank. The combination dozer blade fitted to this recovery vehicle has blade stabilization.
The mass of the BUFFALO ARV is 54.3 tons. Thanks to the powerful 1500 hp 12-cylinder diesel engine. the car is able to accelerate to 68 km / h when driving on the highway, the cruising range is about 400 km. The working angle of the crane installed on the machine is 270 degrees, and its lifting capacity is 30 tons. The maximum force of the main winch is 700 kN using a roller block, an auxiliary winch of 6, 5 kN. The maximum length of steel cables with a diameter of 33 and 7 mm, respectively, is 180 and 280 meters.
English BREM CARRV
Currently, the only combat vehicle based on the chassis of the Challenger 1 tank and remaining in service with the British Army is the CARRV - Challenger Armored Repair and Recovery Vehicle. Since 1990, 74 such armored vehicles have been delivered to the British units. This ARRV with its engine, chassis, lower part of the hull and a number of units and systems completely repeats the Challenger-1 MBT.
The crew of this ARV is 3 people: a driver-mechanic, a commander and a radio operator, in addition, it is possible to transport 2 more people. A special commander's cupola is mounted on the roof of the vehicle. The turret has a remote-controlled 7, 62-mm machine gun, day (with 1- and 10-fold magnification) and night (with 1- and 6-fold magnification) sights, as well as 9 fixed observation devices. The MTS is located in the rear of the vehicles and is separated from the fighting compartment by a special firewall. The CARRV ARV uses the same main and auxiliary engines as the Challenger 1. There are 12 smoke grenade launchers in the front of the hull, and 8 smoke grenade launchers in the back. Also, the machine is equipped with a system of protection against weapons of mass destruction.
There are 2 hydraulic winches on the CARRV ARRV - the main one with a pulling force of 510 kN (length of 9 mm steel cable 150 meters) and auxiliary with a force of 15 kN (length of 9 mm steel cable 300 meters). A hydraulic crane with a telescopic boom is installed on the left side of the hull roof. The crane can rotate 360 degrees and is designed to lift the engine-transmission unit of the Challenger tank.
In addition, the recovery vehicle is equipped with a bulldozer blade, which is installed in its front part. In addition to transportation and replacement of MBT power units, the equipment installed on the CARRV ARRV allows for welding. The machine is equipped with a set of spare parts and tools for repairing tanks in the field, as well as a powerful air compressor. This ARV is able to tow military equipment weighing up to 68 tons at a speed of 30 km / h.
