The Trojan Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE) is a combat engineering vehicle 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 Gurk ...

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

Design

The Trojan

Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE), also known as Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers is the title given to a series of armoured military engineering vehicles operated by the Royal Engineers (RE) for the purpose of protecting engineers durin ...

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 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 so ...

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 The 7.62 mm caliber is a nominal caliber used for a number of different cartridges. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, the imperial unit and customary unit equivalent, and was most commonly used for i ...

machine gun. For rapid mine-clearing purposes, the Trojan can also tow a trailer carrying the

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

, a rocket-propelled hose similar to the Giant Viper. 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 ...

. 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. The Du ...

. A number of Trojans are permanently based in Canada at British Army Training Unit Suffield 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 bordere ...

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 comb ...

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 contr ...

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, of which 33 have also been built.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Trojan AVRE
Royal Engineers
Military engineering vehicles of the United Kingdom Mine warfare countermeasures BAE Systems land vehicles Vehicles introduced in 2007 Military vehicles introduced in the 2000s