Trojan Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers

Support our Paras

On Sunday 25th May I attended a 'SUPPORT OUR PARAS' event at Old Sarum airfield just outside Salisbury, this event was organised to raise desperately needed funds for members of the parachute Regt who have been injured in recent conflicts, and their dependants. I would like to take the time to thank the people and members of Armed Forces who gave up their time to provide an excellent day's entertainment, I would also request that if an event of this nature takes place near you, to attend and show your support for our men and women in uniform.

The weather on Sunday seemed not to know what it wanted to do alternating between overcast, to drizzle, then rain, before glorious sunshine decided to make the day complete. At the event was a good selection of past and present military hardware ranging from First World War fighters to the newest edition to the RAF helicopter fleet, the Merlin. The Army also let out some of their toys for the kids to inspect and climb on/in, people at the event ranged from babes in prams to Chelsea Pensioners and everyone appeared to have a great day out.

The Army toys included a Challenger 2 MBT, the TROJAN AVRE, a Special Forces Land Rover (which was completely buried under kids playing with the weapons systems mounted on it), a Gazelle, various support vehicles and weapons systems. I will take this opportunity to apologize for the quality of some of the pictures as my camera and I struggled with the alternating weather conditions, with the result that some of them came out very dark. Most of the pictures here will be for ref for anyone wishing to scratch build the TROJAN AVRE, plus a few of the other vehicles on show. My Daughter appears in some pictures and any requests for her name and address will NOT be answered. Lastly for anyone interested I will be submitting a walk around of the Merlin HC MK3a from 78 SQN to AEROSCALE.

TROJAN AND TITAN

As issued to THE ROYAL ENGINEERS

The TROJAN and the TITAN are the replacements for the Chieftain AVRE and AVLB, so far 26 of each type have been supplied at the cost of approx £4.1 million per unit. It is I believe the first time a vehicle of this type has been built specifically for this task rather than a MBT having its turret removed and modified to do the task at hand. The TROJAN weighing in at 65 tonnes is an impressive beast to be stood next to, and clearly looks able to get the job done while taking into account crew protection and comfort. Both the TROJAN and the TITAN are built by the Alvis subsidiary of BAe Systems and are based on the Challenger 2 MBT chassis.

Trojan is designed to open routes through complex battlefield obstacles and clear a path through minefields. Standard equipment includes a winch and a knuckle-arm excavator shovel. A Pearson Engineering Full-Width Mine Plough can be mounted at the front to clear mines and a Pearson Engineering Pathfinder clear lane-marking system can also be fitted. It can also carry fascines to drop into ditches and tow a trailer-mounted Python rocket-propelled mine-clearing system. Trojan has the flexibility to support a wide range of operations, including humanitarian missions.

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.

Specifications

• 33 on order, in service from late 2006 (I have been told that so far 26 of each type has been supplied at a cost of approx £4.1 million per unit)
• Weight (Estimated) 65 Tonnes
• Max Road Speed 37 MPH
• Road Range 279 miles
• Engine Perkins CV12 diesel engine, David Brown TN54 enhanced low-loss gearbox and the OMANI cooling group, Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) is also fitted
• Engine Power 1,200bhp
• Crew 3
• Armament 1 x 7.62mm machine gun, Stowage for crew man-portable Light Anti-Tank Weapons
• Fitted with NBC protection system
• It is planned to upgrade to a 30 cal MG according to crew members I spoke to

Please note
The triangular fittings on the various surfaces of the vehicle are the attachment points for the armour to be fitted, the armour is not fitted unless in combat to reduce weight and improve fuel consumption. In the centre of each triangular shape is a hole with a rubber plug inserted which is removed with the tool for all uses a screwdriver.