The
Trojan engineer equipment is a minefield breaching
armoured vehicle amongst other things, currently
in use with the Royal Engineers of the British Army.
The Trojan is designed and manufactured by the International
Defense Company BAE Systems. . The contract was
awarded in 2001 to Vickers Defence Systems, who
were bought by BAE Systems in 2004. The project
was known as the Future Engineer Tank. 33 have been
built. In March 2004, the first prototype Trojan
was delivered to the Royal Engineers Trials and
Development Unit (RETDU) at Bovington. The vehicle,
was to undergo a 10-month demonstration trials period
– with a second vehicle due to be delivered
to British units in Germany for climatic trials.
The primary role of Trojan is as a minefield breaching
system - clearing, preparing, and marking routes;
additionally it will remove complex obstacles and
provide short gap crossing abilities. On deployment
of armoured forces, the first task is the preparation
of defensive positions and multiple obstacles to
enemy movement, including anti-tank ditches and
mines. When battle is joined, armoured forces must
manoeuvre, re-deploy and overcome obstacles, natural
and man-made. These are likely to include mines
and gaps, both wet and dry. TROJAN provides a wide
range of capabilities vital in the battle area.
It is fitted with a dozer-blade or a mineplough.
These attachments are readily interchanged. TROJAN
is custom-designed to create routes through or over
obstacles. It can clear mines using the mine-plough
or by firing explosive mineclearing hose. The cleared
mine breach can then be automatically marked from
under armour using the on-board Obstacle Marking
System. It launches fascines into small gaps. It
digs using its excavator and/or the dozer. All capabilities
are exercised with the crew under full armour protection.
It can carry general engineer stores and use its
excavator as a crane and powered tools to undertake
a wide range of tasks.
The
Trojan is fitted with a Thales 7.62mm overhead
weapon station that can be aimed and fired
with the operator under cover. To supplement
its armament, the Trojan is also fitted
with electrically operated smoke grenade
launchers and can lay its own smoke screen
by injecting diesel fuel into the exhaust
on either side of the hull.
Protection
The
Trojan is based based on a Challenger 2
tank chassis, but lacks the main armament.
The armour of the Trojan provides a protection
against small arms direct fire, anti-tank
mines, and IED (Improvised Explosive Devices).
Propulsion
The
Trojan is based on automotive components
of the Challenger 2 MBT including power
pack and running gear that have been integrated
in a new well protected chassis. The Trojan
is motorised with a Perkins CV12 diesel
engine, David Brown TN54 enhanced low-loss
gearbox and the OMANI cooling group with
an engine power of 1.200 hp. The Trojan
is also equipped with an APU (Auxiliary
Power Unit). The suspension of the Trojan
is composed on each side with aluminium
roadwheels with the drive sprocket at the
rear, idler at the front and two track-return
rollers either side. The upper part of the
track is covered by conventional aluminium
skirts.
Accessories
The
Trojan is equipped with a large hydraulic
excavator arm, which can be used to excavate
areas, move obstacles, and deposit the fascine
that the Trojan carries at its rear. More
often than not, the Trojan is also fitted
with a mine-clearing plough on the front,
which enables it to clear minefields, either
detonating them on contact, or pushing them
out of the way to clear a safe channel for
following vehicles. For mine-clearing mission,
the Trojan can also carry behind it a trailer
carrying the Python, a rocket-propelled
mine clearing system similar to that of
the Giant Viper. This allows for a much
quicker way (if disposable) of clearing
a path for ground forces. The tube, packed
with explosive, is launched across the minefield,
and detonates when it hits the ground, clearing
a 7-metre wide path for 230 metres.
Visiting
French President Francois Hollande said at the White House on Friday,
May 18, 2012, that he stood by the pledge to withdraw French forces
from Afghanistan by the end of 2012. ...
