The Terrier vehicle is an air-transportable armoured combat engineer vehicle for the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the '' Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

. It is being developed as a replacement vehicle for the FV180 Combat Engineer Tractor used by 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 ...

Design

The vehicle will weigh about 30 tonnes, light enough to be air transportable by

C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two ...

Airbus A400M The Airbus A400M AtlasNamed after the Greek mythological figure. is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military (now Airbus Defence and Space) as a tactical airlifter with strategic cap ...

. A clamshell front bucket and side-mounted excavator arm will allow the vehicle to perform earth-moving and obstacle-removing tasks. It will have mine protection and can be operated by remote control from up to in dangerous environments such as mine clearance. In normal operations it will have a crew of two. It will have enhanced modular armour and will be faster at up to 70 km per hour and more mobile than the FV180 Combat Engineer Tractor, and will have 360-degree day-and-night-vision systems. The contract to design and build the vehicle was won by

BAE Systems Land and Armaments BAE Systems Platforms & Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc. and is a large provider of tracked and wheeled armored combat vehicles, naval guns, naval ship repair and modernization, artillery and missile launching systems, a ...

in the UK in July 2002. Other companies have been subcontracted to provide expertise in specific areas. These companies, together with an indication of their involvement, include: *

GKN GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...

Aerospace: innovative fuel system *

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc. (stock symbol CAT) is an American ''Fortune'' 500 corporation and the world's largest construction-equipment manufacturer. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 65 on the ''Fortune'' 500 list and number 238 on the Global ''Fo ...

: powerpacks and C18 Caterpillar engine * Corus: fabricated hull

History

A prototype vehicle was officially unveiled on 28 May 2005. BAE Systems has built four demonstrator vehicles currently undergoing trial. This will be followed by the commencement of full-scale production of 60 vehicles in their factory at

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the la ...

. A re-baselined Terrier programme is on track with reliability growth trials contracted for early 2010. Manufacture of the first TERRIER production hull began on 27 January 2010 at the company's Newcastle plant. The vehicle is in service as of 5 June 2013. A total of 60 vehicles were delivered to the British Army. The French Military has shown an interest in purchasing Terriers from the UK.

Crew training

Training of the Terrier crews is carried out in the Terrier Mission Crew Trainer (MCT) developed by BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies ( Insyte) at their plant in

Fife, Scotland Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

. The trainer comprises a high fidelity simulated crew cab, with commander and driver positions, mounted on a motion platform, and surrounded by a 360 degree, rear projection, visual system. The MCT allows crews simulate driving, digging and other vehicle functions. Four MCTs are in development for the

References

External links

Terrier Manoeuvre Support Vehicle
at ''Jane's''
Terriers for the Royal Engineers
''Defense Industry Daily'', 01-Apr-2009
Alternative LDT lends itself to mobile equipment
''Hydraulics & Pneumatics'' (article on electronic controls of Terrier's hydraulic cylinders) {{ModernUKAFVsNav Military engineering vehicles of the United Kingdom Military vehicles introduced in the 2010s