Small Engineering Plant for Light Role Forces

Continuing with the occasional series of posts centred on light-role infantry, this one looks at the role of a small engineering plant.

Table of Contents

Context and Requirements

As we have seen from the flood of imagery from Ukraine, the proliferation of UAS now means that direct and indirect fire will always be high risk, getting underground quickly is simply a matter of survivability.

As it has always been.

For many years now, long before the current conflict in Ukraine, the British Army has been reinvesting in skills for building field defences and looking at equipment options to improve force protection capability.

From infantry positions…

To artillery positions

Digging in is (hopefully) becoming the norm.

In this post, I want to focus on a narrow band of requirements, light-role infantry.

Light role infantry (and to some extent light cavalry) will tend to operate alongside support heavier support functions and vehicles or as part of a wider force, with more robust combat engineering capability.

That said, retaining and improving organic combat engineering capabilities (regardless of cap badge) should be seen in the same context as 81 mm mortars, a capability held at the Company level and directed by Company commanders.

Adding yet another equipment burden to light role forces takes them further away from their light role (perhaps they should all be motorised anyway) so this will have a cost in training, support, and capital. I would argue this is an essential investment that reflects the reality of contemporary operating environments, a need to get below ground at every opportunity.

Requirements might include the obvious ones of digging a trench or mortar pit, but there are other tasks.

Fill sandbags, drive pickets to secure a wire entanglement, destroy a small concrete barrier, cut, and move logs for overhead protection and unload an ammunition pallet.

Equipment will not completely replace hand tools, it might be used to get a head start, to quickly dig shell scrapes for an entire platoon at a halt which can then be improved for example. They certainly will not be used (nor can they) for heavier construction tasks.

To achieve transportability and supportability in combat service support light units, one must self-evidently make compromises on duty cycles, capacities and general robustness.

In framing the options, 500 kg and 2,000 kg are deliberate maximum weights for the two categories.

What can be towed by a quad bike (500 kg)

and

What can be towed by a Land Rover (2,000 kg)

Light role infantry will have a handful of quad bike all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) on hand, and potentially some Land Rovers.

They are already there, already in service.

Quad Bike Weight Class

The in-service quad bikes are relatively conventional and representative of the type commonly used in agriculture and other industries.

There are three options for further exploiting these versatile machines

Attach to the Quad Bike

This avoids the need to tow anything.

The image below shows an attachment called the XKV-TOR, but I understand that the manufacturer is no longer in business

There are a few others you can see online, but they seem either no longer available or home-made

Some manufacturers make direct attach loader kits for quad bike ATVs, but most are for farm implements, sprayers and sillage forks.

Whilst useful, the quad bike is not optimised and any equipment fitted to the front or rear will have a small breakout capacity and hinder other tasks.

Tow Behind Excavator

Tow behind excavators are not new

Watch this video on YouTube.

90 of them were purchased by the British Army in the mid-eighties from Powerfab.

The video below shows a Powerfab 125WT in use.

Watch this video on YouTube.

The video shows the equipment in use with a range of attachments, including an excavator bucket, earth auger and hydraulic breaker, also providing off-board hydraulic power for hand tools.

The Powerfab 125TW was powered by a 10hp engine, capable of digging to a depth of 2.6m.

Powerfab went out of business but is now back trading, although with a reduced product range, perhaps we could pay them to resurrect the 125TW?

Alternatives; the Kellfri Backhoe Digger also runs from a 10hp engine but does not have the hydraulic export feature of the Powerfab or quite the digging depth. As can also be seen, it does not have independent travel capability. At £3,600 each though, cheap, and at less than 500 kg, straightforward for the in-service quad bikes to tow.

The Rock Machinery Mini Excavator is another example of the breed.

The tow-behind excavators from Powerfab, Kellfri and others look good enough, simple, and extremely cheap.

Compact Standalone Machines

A couple of quad bike trailers were obtained from Logic several years ago, the SMT 171B and SMT 120B

Their 150 kg max payload is too small for any mechanical digging equipment and the stepped body design (to keep their width the same as the quad bike) means the width at the bottom is small, too small to carry any engineering plant.

Buying a larger trailer opens up the options, the Logic OXR for example.

This would enable a larger and self-contained piece of machinery to be towed by a quad bike.

The sub 500 kg excavator market is somewhat rarefied, but there are a couple worth looking at.

First is the 380 kg Komatsu PC01-1

Would you be able to keep the smile off the faces of onlookers?

Watch this video on YouTube.

Second, the Struck Magnatrac RS1000, despite its rather amusing appearance, is capable.

It can be fitted with rubber tracks, a rear ripper blade, several dozer blades, and even a backhoe kit with a digging depth of 2m.

Watch this video on YouTube.

One of these with a larger trailer would be at the upper limit for one of our quad bikes to tow.

Quad Bike Towable — Summary

Keeping weight down and dimensions small severely limits options, and one would have to seriously question whether any of these devices would be appropriate for light role forces. I have included them to show the possibilities, even though I do quite like the look of the Magnatrac RS1000.

Interestingly, in terms of weight and dimensions, those items described above could easily be carried as an internal load on a Chinook and Merlin, and a parachute air despatch platform.

They can be carried as an underslung load by all in-service helicopters, from Wildcat to Chinook. What they lack in duty cycle and capability, they certainly are not deficient in the portability stakes.

I can’t say I am a fan of the direct attachment approach.

The tow-behind devices look simple, easy to operate and cheap, but they take up a valuable towing hitch.

The larger trailer and standalone machine provide the same potential capability/capacity as the tow behind. When offloaded, the trailer can be used for other tasks whilst the machine is being operated, and you can not but be impressed by the Magnatrac.

It must also be noted that pilling up earth to form a berm/shell scrape with a small dozer blade like on the Magnatrac would produce fast temporary protection from shell fragments.

It could be further developed, but simply piling up an earth barrier in a few minutes would be better than digging a hole with an excavator to provide almost immediate interim protection.

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Land Rover/Pickup Truck Weight Class

Moving up in weight to equipment that can be towed by or mounted on light vehicles like Land Rovers and pick-up trucks opens the choice up considerably.

One of the main drivers for the market is trailer and vehicle weights as allowed by UK road traffic regulations (with many similarities elsewhere). UK Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) for a trailer is 3.5 tonnes on a normal (Class B) car licence (obtained after 1997), and that trailer must be no wider than 2.55m and no longer than 7m.

Restricting equipment to within these limits means it can be transported by personnel with standard driving licences, a considerable advantage, especially for light role forces. The commercial market is subject to these same pressures, and manufacturers have responded by developing equipment in the one to two tonnes range.

Attach to the Vehicle

Once popular, these have nowadays fallen out of favour as tracked mini excavators have matured, included here for completeness.

Standalone Machines — Trailers

Within the 3.5-tonne MAM is the weight of the trailer itself. Most plant trailers are about 1 tonne in weight. The actual towing capacity of any vehicle must also be defined and might be lower than 3.5 tonnes. Most pick-up style trucks, light commercials and Land Rover’s are usually rated at similar weights with a braked trailer.

Towing heavier equipment can be dangerous for the untrained, and many plant trailers tend to have two axles to reduce pintle weights.

The image below is the type of setup is common in the building and agricultural sectors, and there is no reason not to exploit this for defence purposes.

Several UK manufacturers of small plant trailers; tipping, beaver tail, ramped, two-axle, and three-axle. (The image below is a 2-tonne capacity three-axle beaver tail trailer from Nugent Trailers)

Adding a small hydraulic jib would allow them to be used for loading and unloading other stores and equipment when not carrying plant. This would add to the trailer weight, thus reducing carrying capacity, but it might be worth the added versatility.

It might also allow spare buckets and other attachments to be carried.

Taking this approach means that any equipment selected would be in the 1-to-1.5-tonne range, but it also means the utility of the trailer is increased as it can be used for other things once the vehicle has been offloaded.

Tracked Excavators

The JCB 801.8 Excavator Towed Ultralight (as shown in the image below) is already in service, with a suitable trailer, but only in small quantities, 18 at the time of order.

Although a few years old, the 801.8 is typical of the type, with a maximum dig depth of 2.4m and a range of buckets and attachments such as augers and hammers.

Each of those shown in the image below would be a useful addition.

An open cab with folding rollover protection is also available, and this might be attractive as it would allow them to be carried as an internal load on Chinook and Merlin.

They can be used to excavate the complete hole break up the ground or disrupt roots and rocks such that hand digging can be completed much more easily.

These are versatile machines, but of course, there are plenty of others on the market, almost every manufacturer of engineering plant has a mini digger range.

They will range in size and weight but all the manufacturers generally start from an operating weight of 1 tonne upwards, with some having slightly different digging depths, bucket capacities and breakout forces (a measure of power exerted at the bucket tip).

Some will have conventional tails, others zero tails, and many manufacturers are now offering electric variants (Bobcat E10 shown below, making a nice mouse hole in an urban combat environment!)

Most will also have a small chassis attached dozer blade.

Stand on Skid Steer

Most conventional skid steer or tracked loaders tend to be too heavy to tow with a standard 1-tonne trailer, so the industry has responded by creating stand-on versions to reduce weight. Ditch Witch, Bobcat, Sherpa, Wacker Neuson, and Vermeer, all have a range of models.

This type of machine is mostly not designed for digging or earthmoving. They are typically used as a tool carrier and for loading and unloading pallets or granular materials, in this context, their low height and weight make them a useful addition to the discussion.

Articulated Wheeled Loaders

As with the stand-on tracked loaders, articulated wheeled loaders are a growing market with an increasing variety of manufacturers (Wacker Nuesson shown below)

They are also available in weight ranges, open or enclosed cabs, and retrofit track kits.

Beyond the major construction equipment manufacturers, less well-known brands continue to thrive in this sector; Avant, Multi One, Sherpa and Norcar.

Each one exists in a range of weights that includes the 1-2-tonne bracket.

They are unlikely to be digging a mortar pit with them but are included for wider application.

Before reading on, would you mind if I brought this to your attention?

Think Defence is a hobby, a serious hobby, but a hobby nonetheless.