M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle

The M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle was based on an M60A1 Patton MBT (Main Battle Tank) chassis with a hydraulically operated dozer blade mounted on the front, an A-frame crane hinged on each side of the turret and a winch. The vehicle can also be equipped with a mine clearing rake. The armament was changed from using the 105 mm M68 rifled tank gun used on the standard M60/A1/A3, to use an M135 165 mm short-barrelled demolition gun with 30 rounds of HEP (High Explosive, Plastic) ammunition, it is a license built copy of the 165 mm L9A1 gun that was used on the British Army’s FV4003 Centurion Mk.5 AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) tank. It is also armed with a coaxial 7.62 × 51 mm NATO M73 machine gun, with 2,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition, as well as a .50 cal M85 machine gun mounted on the commander’s cupola, with 600 rounds of ammunition.