Fighting for business
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by Bob Morrison • The peace dividend might have cut deeply into defence spending at home but hundreds of overseas buyers came to the 1995 Royal Navy and British Army Equipment Exhibition at Aldershot.
Leyland Trucks announced two major military orders worth £10m-plus.
Brunei has bought more than 40 Leyland T244 fourtonners (similar to those used by British forces), while the Ministry of Defence has ordered a further 91 8x6 DROPS (Demountable Rack Off-load and Pick-up System) vehicles.
Marshall Specialist Vehicles showed another DROPS system on its new Bedford MT26-30 6x6 chassis, which shares components with the existing MT 4x4 range.
Powered by a 300hp (224kW) 8.7-litre Perkins Peregrine diesel, the MT26-30 has a payload of 16 tonnes. A number of DROPS-equipped versions have been bought by Indonesia.
heavy truck specialist Unipower, now part of the Alvis Group, displayed a high-mobility 15,000-litre Combat Refueller and a Tank Bridge Transporter (TBT).
Roth trucks are based on the 38-tonne GVW 8x8 MSeries chassis; Unipower says they offer sufficient mobility to keep pace with the latest generation of tanks and armoured personnel carriers off-road and on.
The TBT is one of three types based on the M Series which form part of the BR90 combat bridging system. Another variant, the Automotive Bridge Launching Equipment (ABLE), uses hydraulics to place bridges up to 44m long.
A 6x6 variant of the MSeries has entered service in Oman to carry Challenger II tanks—the 600hp vehicle has a payload of 70 tonnes and a GTW of -I 115 tonnes.