Ah, tanks... big machines with thick metal walls, running on durable tracks, firing big missiles that can quickly destroy a village. Yep, killing structures man made to destroy his fellows to get more land and become more powerful. But what if we could use them differently, for a change? What if instead of consuming, we could use them to build something?
It may as well be possible since you could replace that big cannon on top with say a digger bucket. Oh, wait, this is already happening, and it goes by the name Terrier. No, not the dog, BAE Systems’ unique platform that combines leading combat vehicle strength with the ability to perform a vast variety of engineering tasks on the battlefield.
Yes, yes, but why would anyone need a building vehicle in a war zone, anyway? A good question indeed, only that we’re not here to answer it. Instead, we’d like to talk a little more about this big boy. Agile, adaptable and robust - this is how the British multinational defense, security, and aerospace maker describes it.
The reason we are talking about this beast now even though it was unveiled a while ago is that they just released a stunning video with the machine in action, and we figured it was worth sharing. Before pushing the horizontal triangle below, we’d like to mention a couple of numbers related to it.
Its capabilities range from providing mobility assistance for supported units to delivering counter-mobility, survivability, and general engineering tasks. The 32-tonne armored platform is capable of reaching a top speed of 70 km/h (43 mph) alongside outstanding off-road performance.
“Typical applications include providing mobility support (obstacle and route clearance), counter-mobility (digging of anti-tank ditches and other obstacles) and survivability (digging of trenches and Armored Fighting Vehicle slots).“
Did we mention that some of its features can be remote controlled? Yep, you don’t even have to be driving it to use it.
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