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This vehicle is not currently on display at the Museum
From the beginning of the Chinese Communist uprising in 1925 the USSR gave active support to the insurgents and even before the Communists completed the takeover of mainland China in 1949 they received vast quantities of Russian military materiel. This was later followed by production agreements which enabled Chinese factories to build copies of Russian equipment.
The resourceful Chinese soon made modifications creating their own versions of the basic Russian designs. The very successful Russian T54 tank was copied and given the Chinese designation T59. Eventually a recovery variant under the designation T653 was produced, complete with crane as in Western designs.
The Russians, East Europeans and Chinese all exported military vehicles and weapons to those countries whose politics they favoured or whose wealth was too useful to be ignored. Some countries were able to arm themselves through purchases from both Western and Communist countries. Iraq was in this situation and as a result had a vast hotchpotch of equipment from many sources making maintenance and supply a nightmare.
During the Gulf War (1990-1991), resulting from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, considerable quantities of Iraqi vehicles were destroyed or captured. The Chinese ARV was among the spoils and was allocated to the REME Museum.
Length |
7.18 m (23 ft 6 in) |
Width |
3.30 m (10 ft 9 in) |
Height |
3 m (9 ft 10 in) |
Weight |
38 tonnes |
Winch |
25 tonnes capacity |
Crane lift |
10 tonnes - max |
Engine |
V12 transverse mounted diesel |
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Page produced by Peter Eldred - Last updated 24 July 2004