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Canadian Forces — Mobile Tracked Vehicle, Engineering
(MTVE) |
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Engineers – "Labor omnia vicit improbus et duris urgens in rebus
egestas" [1]
The MTVE engineering vehicles are updated TLAV (Tracked Light Armoured Vehicle) replacements for the earlier
M113 SEV (Special Equipment Vehicles). By comparison, the MTVE has a longer track-base being based on
the stretched MTVL. These longer tracks mean greater traction, making MTVEs better at dozing than the
M113 SEV. That long wheelbase has been less successful in adapting to the quiet-running Soucy bandtracks which
work best on a short TLAV. On the other hand, a stretched rear crew compartment makes up for inside stowage space
given up to the basket of a new, manned turret.
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'1M' "Give ample room, and verge enough, The characters of hell to trace"
Whereas the M113 SEV was armed with a flexible machinegun mount on the vehicle commander's hatch, the MTVE has
the twin-gun turret recycled from Grizzly AVGPs. The Cadillac-Gage '1-Meter' turrets, refurbished for the APC Life Extension program has its detractors but also some benefits. Among the benefits are
greater defensive firepower from the M2 heavy machinegun and C6 GPMG pair than the single C6 arming other MTVL
variants; and the turret also provides a higher, protected vantage point for the Veh Cdr to observe from while
surface scraping, etc.
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MTVE Mobile Tracked Vehicle Engineering Specifications
| Crew: |
2 (driver, veh cdr.), plus engineering squad |
Armament:
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1 x 12.7mm M2 and 1 x 7.62mm C6 GPMG, plus
8 x 76mm Wegmann grenade launcher tubes |
Size:
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Length 5.84m x width 2.69m x height 2.50m
track width (Diehl metal tracks) 38 cm |
| Weight: |
18.14 tonnes (less engineering equipment) |
| Equipment: |
hydraulic auger, Rotzler winch (8300 kg pull) |
| Powerplant: |
400hp 6V-53 diesel, Allison X200-4B automatic |
| Speed: |
Max speed: 66km/h (road), max range: 483km |
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"He bored with his auger, he bored once or twice ..."
Like the M113 SEV, the MTVE looks like an APC that has driven through a machine shop. Distinguishing features
are a Pearson dozer blade plus roof-mounted augers (port) and hydraulic hose drum (starboard) [2] but MTVEs are
festooned with all the other tools of the combat engineers – much of that
MTVE tool kit being recycled and refurbished from the M113 SEV. The dozer blade can be replaced with a
mine-plough. [3] At the time of writing, at least one MTVE was being prepared at Gagetown by 4 Engineer Support
Regiment to be shipped by sea to aid in Haitian earthquake recovery as part of DND's Op Hestia.[4]
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[1] "Never-flinching labour proved lord of all ... the stress of need in a life of struggles!" –
Virgil, Eclogues (Pastoral Poems) x. 145, 37 BC?
[2] This ratching hydraulic hose drum is to power remote hydraulic tools at distances up to 15 m from the
MTVE. Such tools can include: hydraulically-driven chainsaws, impact wrenches, hammer and sinker
drills, concrete breakers, cutoff wheels, grinders, and sump pumps.
[3] The SMCD or Surface Munitions Clearing Device (also known as a Pearson Engineering SMP or Surface Mine Plough)
allows MTVEs to replace the older, SMCD-equipped DAREOD ( Damaged Airfield Repair Explosive Ordnance Disposal )
vehicles based on the M113A2.
[4] A single CF wheeled high-speed backhoe/ front-end loader MPEV had been previously shipped by Hercules to assist DART
in Haiti.
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