The value of a bulldozer for removing obstacles or debris became clear in WWII. The advantage of having such a device mounted on a combat tank, which in the mean time regained its fire power, was even greater. In WWII, dozer blades were mounted on the M4 Sherman which on many occasions came to the aid of stranded convoys while under fire, capable of anticipating any hostile threat. After WWII, dozer blade kits were mounted to the M46 and M47 tanks to further improve the system, but test results were considered to be unsatisfactory. However, when the M48 tank became available, a standardized M8 bulldozer blade assembly was fitted and more test runs were accomplished. This was in the late 1960's. Fitting of the bulldozer blade to the M48 called for a complex installation of the hydraulic feed lines to operate the blade assembly. With the arrival of the new M60 tank series, a study was made to simplify the hydraulic feed system. A modified version of the M8 blade, designated M9, only needed one hydraulic reservoir mounted on the left rear fender and dual feed lines running underneath the hull to the front of the vehicle. The M9 type bulldozer blade became the standard configuration and was also used on the M728 CEV (although with a different installation kit), an M60 derivative with a 165mm demolition gun in lieu of the 105mm gun and an operating boom/winch assembly fitted to the front side slopes of the turret.
No comments:
Post a Comment