The Hydrema MCV
The Hydrema 910 Humanitarian MCV, seen here at the 2006 Republic Day parade, is a state-of-the-art mine clearing vehicle. It consists of a self-supporting armoured cabin, separate engines for driving and flail operations, pivot steering, a six-speed powershift transmission, bullet proof tyres, rotation of the flail in both directions and a function to tilt/turn the flail mechanism into a transport position. The MCV is capable of clearing a 3.5 m wide track on firm ground such as roads, runways and on other types of ground. The clearing is done when the rotating flail detonates the mines by milling and hitting the ground.
During the mine clearing process, the vehicle is driven by a hydrostatic system in the direction opposite to the normal driving direction. The clearing can be done using the joysticks or through the advanced computerized fully automatic pilot steering system. A deflector plate made of armoured steel is mounted behind the flail. It provides an extremely high protection against blast and fragments, and preventing objects from being thrown on the vehicle. From the beginning, when clearing automatically, the driver chooses a few parameters on the monitor like e.g. ground conditions - and consequently the depth control of flail and deflector plate is done automatically.
Full size:
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