Engineer tank 1

Engineer tank 1
Pioneer Tank 1 of the Italian Army in Kosovo
General properties
crew	4 (driver, commander, 2 tank pioneers)
length	7.68 m
width	3.25 m
height	2.69 m (with retracted crane boom)
Dimensions	39.8 tons (standard) 40.6 tons (2A2)
Armor and armament
Armor	Armor steel
Main armament	2 × 7.62 × 51 mm MG3
Secondary armament	Smoke throwing system
agility
drive	MTU MB 838 CaM-500, 10-cylinder multi-fuel diesel engine 610 kW (830 hp ), 2.86 kNm torque
suspension	Torsion bar
Top speed	62 km / h
Power / weight	approx. 20.5 hp / ton
Range	850 km

Army pioneer tank recovering an M48 Kpz in Baumholder

The Pionierpanzer 1 (collective name according to BesAnVH "Bergepanzer 2A1") was the standard equipment of the tank pioneers of the Bundeswehr for a longer period of time .

As a replacement for the inadequately deployable M48 Räumpanzer , the prototype of a pioneer tank was presented in 1967. It was a development by the Porsche company ; the general contractor was Maschinenbau Kiel (MAK). Production started in 1968 and a total of 123 vehicles were delivered. The most important parts of the device were based on the Bergepanzer 2 of the " Leopard 1 family" with the same chassis and the same drive units. The recovery winch and the crane of the vehicle were also identical.

Identical to armored recovery vehicle 2

• Crane (20 t load capacity)
• Recovery thread max. 35 t performance in a single train. The pulling power could be doubled to 70 t by means of a pulley.

Different engineering equipment

• Hydraulic dozer blade with add-on extensions up to 3.75 m (in contrast to the clearing armor, an experienced driver could already do very good leveling here.), Clearing capacity max. 200 m³ / h
• Reinforced clearing blade cylinder (not identical to the cylinders of the armored recovery vehicle, whose blade was not intended for clearing, but only as a support during crane work and as a spur when using the winch.)
• Fangs under the dozer blade (can only be used when reversing)
  • 4 pieces with a working depth of 50 mm or
  • 8 pieces with a working depth of 400 mm
• Reinforced hydraulic system
• Additional oil cooler for the hydraulic system with armored air outlet
• Ladder on the crane arm
• Hydraulic earth auger (70 cm diameter) for making z. B. foxholes up to 2 m deep (has not proven itself.)
• Electric welding machine
• Explosives
• Chain protection on the drive sprockets (was only introduced later)
• The vehicle did not have reserve rollers, nor was the bearing block for a reserve engine

Others

The controls for the crane, earth auger and clearing shovel were still manual here. (Directly activated valves).

The gearbox was a ZF gearbox with the gear stages 4 × forward road (manual) and 4 × forward off-road (automatic).

After the first conversion phase in the course of the main repairs, the manual gearshift was no longer necessary and was replaced by a fully automatic 4-stage system (which can be overridden by hand).

The Pionierpanzer 1 was part of the equipment of the tank pioneer companies and tank pioneer battalions .

After the end of its useful life, the armored engineer machine was initially intended as a replacement . For cost reasons, it was decided to go for the slimmed-down version, the Dachs Pioneer Tank .

literature

• FM by Senger and Etterlin : Tanks of the World 1983 . Arms & Armor Press, London 1983

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Special instructions for supplying the army
2. ↑ This oil cooler was on the right side of the tub instead of a storage compartment on the armored recovery vehicle
3. ↑ The legal designation for this vehicle was then "Pionierpanzer 2"