Assault Breacher Vehicle

M1 Assault Breacher Vehicle
M1 assault breacher vehicles, assigned to the U.S. Marines with the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion.
Type	Military Engineering Vehicle
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	2010–present
Used by	United States Army, United States Marine Corps
Wars	War in Afghanistan
Production history
No. built	39
Specifications
Length	40 feet (12 meters)
Main armament	M58 MICLIC

M1 Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV), nicknamed The Shredder, is a U.S. military mine- and explosives-clearing vehicle, based on the M1 Abrams-chassis, equipped with a mine-plough and line charges. Its first large scale use by the US Marines was in the joint ISAF-Afghan Operation Moshtarak in Southern Afghanistan during the War in Afghanistan in 2010 against the Taliban insurgency.

These tracked combat vehicles were especially designed to clear pathways for troops and other vehicles through minefields and along roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices. The 72-ton, 12 m (40 foot) long vehicles are based on the M1 Abrams with a 1,500 horsepower engine, but fitted with a 12.7 mm machine gun and a front-mounted 4.5 m (15-foot) wide plow, supported by metallic skis that glide on the dirt and armed with nearly 3,175 kg (7,000 lb) of explosives.

They were called "the answer" to the deadliest threat facing NATO troops in this conflict. The Breachers are also equipped with M58 MICLIC Mine Clearing Line Charges: rockets carrying C-4 explosives up to 100–150 yards forward, detonating hidden bombs at a safe distance, so that troops and vehicles can pass through safely.

In the 1990s, the U.S. Army decided it could not afford to continue developing complicated, maintenance-heavy vehicles for this purpose. The Grizzly program was canceled in 2001, and the prototype developed never made it to the production lines. The Marine Corps however persisted and funded its own development and testing. The main body of the final model of the ABV is built on the General Dynamics chassis that is used for the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank. Pearson Engineering of the UK provided the specially designed plow and the other mine-clearing accessories.