Digging for victory

Corporal Marcus Good demonstrates one of the army's new HMEE. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Corporal Marcus Good put the NZ army's new High Mobility Engineer Excavator through its paces at Trentham Military Camp yesterday. The 16,180kg excavator is one of six new combat tractors which will operate alongside the army's light armoured vehicles (LAVs), providing assistance with route clearance, construction and other earthmoving tasks.

The vehicles, parts, training and other support has cost $4.7 million.

The top speed of the excavator is 90km/h and Lieutenant Colonel Don Jones said that the vehicles would provide "a significant increase in engineer capability for the NZ army".