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 Aframe 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 shortbarrelled 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.