New armored vehicle training field opened in Tapa
A new training field for armored vehicles was opened in Tapa where operators of military heavy machinery can practice driving in difficult conditions without tearing up soil under forests or on fields.
The concrete roads and constructed obstacles, many taken from first-hand experience, allow for military vehicles squads to practice driving in difficult conditions without tearing up the soil under a forest or on a field, ETV's daily affairs show "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported on Wednesday.
The inspiration for the training field was influenced by a similar one in the Netherlands where the CV90 vehicles - operated by the Estonian Defence Forces (EDF) - originate from. The Scouts Battalion (Scoutspataljon) added to the development, designing a so-called "shaker".
Commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade Col. Vahur Karus explained: "It is this ribbed concrete construction which cleans the vehicle's undercarriage and tracks of soil and mush."
The tracks of the training field are primarily for armored vehicle units, but must also be able to carry the weight of 62-ton British tank Challenger, operated by the NATO Battlegroup in Estonia.
Therefore, the construction had to take into consider the road's hardness, thickness and the overall structure of the road construction.
Sven Pärtens, head of TREV-2, said: "Everything here is larger in dimension than normal. Regularly, constructors will provide a two to five-year guarantee, but we predicted we are constructing this field for a longer period. It will definitely not deconstruct in the coming years."
The development of the training field totalled €1.9 million, a supplemental area to the nearby Tapa campus.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste