Combat Engineer Vehicle M728

Combat Engineer Vehicle M728
Combat Engineer Vehicle M728
General properties
crew	4 (commander, driver, gunner, loader )
length	8.64 m
width	3.60 m
height	3.26 m
Dimensions	52.2 tons
Armor and armament
Armor	Armor steel
Main armament	1 × 165 mm petard mortar for 30 kg explosive charges (firing range 1000 m)
Secondary armament	1 × 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun Browning M2 in the commander's cupola 1 × 7.62 mm M60 machine gun coaxial
agility
drive	12-cylinder diesel engine Teledyne Continental AVDS-1790 2A 750 PS (560 kW)
suspension	Torsion bar
Top speed	48 km / h (road)
Power / weight

The M728 CEV (Combat Engineer Vehicle) was a pioneer tanks of the US Army .

history

After the US pioneers never had an armored vehicle that could have been considered a pioneer tank , a number of M48 main battle tanks were equipped with a clearing blade in the 1950s and given the designation Tank M48 with Dozer Blade - by the Bundeswehr the device was called Räumpanzer M48 . However, this solution turned out to be extremely unsatisfactory, so that the Ordnance Corps was commissioned to procure a replacement.

A first prototype of the new pioneer tank appeared in 1960 under the designation T118, using the hull of the main battle tank prototype T95. The first troop attempts were made in 1966 under the designation T118E1.

The model was introduced from 1967, with a total of 291 vehicles being produced. In addition to the US, Saudi Arabia and Singapore also introduced this pioneer tank.

During Operation Desert Storm , the engineer tanks were supposed to hit alleys for the advancing tank divisions and were also partially equipped with mine clearance equipment. However, they could not keep up with the faster newer M1 and M1A1, which had meanwhile been introduced to the tank divisions. This and the clumsiness of the vehicle hindered the advance and was the decisive factor in decommissioning the M728 and replacing it with a newer generation with the chassis of the M1.

technology

CEV 728 during clearing work

The basis of the chassis and landing gear was the M60A1 battle tank, which was standard for the armored forces of the United States at the time of development. Because of the heavy artillery, the tower had to be completely redesigned. However, a turret mount MG and the typical dome mount MG of the M60 were not dispensed with. Together with the clearing blade and the crane, however, the vehicle became extremely heavy and lost its mobility. Characteristic of the vehicle was the close reference to the battle tank. In its standard equipment, the device had a night vision device, an NBC protection system and a searchlight. The pioneer tank could also be equipped for deep-water tasks within a short time.

description

• Tower and hull of the M60 main battle tank with an "A" crane boom with a load capacity of 15 tons attached to the tower .
• Hydraulic dozer blade on the front.
• Assigned to the division engineers' tank engineer companies
• Assessment: A versatile device that meets the requirements.
• No longer in service with the US Army .

literature

• FM by Senger and Etterlin : Tanks of the World 1983 . Arms and Armor Press, London 1983, ISBN 0-85368-585-1 .
• P. Trewhitt: tanks . Kaiserverlag, Klagenfurt 2005, ISBN 3-7043-3197-X .

Web links

Commons : M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• M728 CEV at fas.org (en)