TROJAN ARMOURED VEHICLE ROYAL ENGINEERS (AVRE)

Trojan Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE) is designed to open routes through complex battlefield obstacles and clear a path through minefields.

Standard equipment includes a winch and  on the right side is a Caterpillar excavator arm with thumb that can take a number of attachments.

The bucket attachment has a capacity of one cubic metre and the arm has a lift capacity of 6.5 tonnes.
 

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. The Trojan is a new armoured engineer vehicles based on a common tank chassis – the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (MBT). Trojan is manufactured by the Alvis subsidiary of BAe Systems (Now BAe Global Combat Systems).

Trojan and the Titan Armoured Bridge Launcher represent the first armoured engineer vehicles specifically designed (rather than adapted from battle tank chassis) for their role and incorporate the very latest mobility and survivability features, many of which are also planned for Challenger 2. Improved visibility is achieved by incorporating direct and indirect vision devices with low light, image intensifying and thermal imaging capabilities.

The interior, and to some extent the exterior, of the vehicles have been designed around the crew station positions.

A contract worth £250 million was awarded during early 2001 for the supply of 66 vehicles – 33 x Trojan and 33 x Titan. Deliveries to the RE commenced in late 2006.

In March 2004, the first prototype Trojan was delivered to the Royal Engineers Trials and Development Unit (RETDU) at Bovington. A total of 33 Trojans are now in service.