AACE FNSS

Amphibious Armored Combat Earthmover Engineer Vehicle - Turkey

The AACE, the acronym of Amphibious Armored Combat Earthmover, also nicknamed Kunduz, is an engineer armored vehicle designed, developed, and manufactured by the Turkish company FNSS. A contract to develop the armored amphibious bulldozer was signed on March 10, 2009, between the Turkish Ministry of National Defense and the company FNSS. The first vehicle was delivered to the Turkish army on January 11, 2013. The vehicle is now in service with the Turkish armed forces and was exported to the Philippines. The vehicle is based on a tracked armored vehicle and can perform performing bulldozing, rough grading, excavating, hauling, and scraping operations. The AACE is the first and only combat engineering dozer vehicle in the world that has the amphibious capability. The AACE was designed to increase the combat engineering capabilities of the combat engineer battalion units and to carry these capabilities to further stages with the ability of the amphibious vehicles.

AACE FNSS variants:

- No variants at this time.

Equipment

The FNSS AACE is fitted with a dozer blade mounted at the front of the vehicle. Thermal cameras are mounted on the front part of the vehicle to perform all engineer operations from inside the vehicle and under the armor. Thanks to its large dozer blade, the AACE can prepare river banks during river crossing missions. A bank of six smoke grenade dischargers is mounted at the front of the engine compartment.

Design and protection

The FNSS AACE design consists of three main parts with the engineer combat equipment at the front, the crew compartment at the rear left side, and the powerpack on the right. The vehicle has a crew of two including one driver and one operator. The vehicle is fitted with modern electronic systems such as day and night cameras, a multi-function LCD monitor, and air-conditioning system. The hull of the vehicle provides protection against the firing of small arms and artillery shell splinters.

Mobility

The FNSS AACE is powered by a diesel engine coupled to a fully automatic transmission. It is capable to reach a road speed of up to 45 km/h and has a maximum cruising range of 400 km. The vehicle is fully amphibious and can travel safely in river streams against current speeds up to 1.5 m/sec with 360° high-maneuverability through its two water jets, placed at the rear section on both sides of the vehicle. The vehicle can negotiate a gradient of 60% and side slope of 30%, and can cross obstacles of 400 mm and trenches of 1.5 m. Its modern hydraulic system and power transmission enable the vehicle to operate with high maneuverability and operational performance. The suspension on each side consists of four road wheels, one idler at the front and a drive sprocket at the rear.

The AACE is fully amphibious and is propelled in the water at a maximum speed of 8.4 km thanks to two water jets mounted at the rear of the hull.

Combat Use

Compared to standard heavy-duty vehicles, the FNSS AACE has the capability to take in ballast from the soil into its ballast canister, and when necessary the vehicle can discharge its ballast canister at the end of the operation. In standard heavy-duty vehicles, the dozer blade is hydraulically operated while the vehicle is stable. However, in the AACE it is fixed to the vehicle. With its adjustable hydraulic suspension system, the front section of the AACE can be shifted in the vertical axis. This capability enables the blade or ballast canister to make contact with the soil, and penetrate it. As a result, shoveling and plowing can be performed more efficiently.