Polish army's new Abrams tanks to be fitted with kits to plough through minefields

Poland is set to receive the most advanced version of the Abrams main battle tank - and the vehicles are due to be bolstered with mine ploughs and combat dozer blades thanks to a British company.

The engineering capability will be integrated on the M1A2 SEP V3 tanks via a vehicle interface kit called Slice that is designed by Pearson Engineering.

Slice enables a fighting vehicle to rapidly accept and operate a wide range of front-end equipment.

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Slice does not require any modification to the vehicle based on a novel plug-and-play approach that also does not affect the vehicle's lethality or survivability.

Pearson was awarded the contract to supply 99 capability kits to the Polish armed forces.

Business development director Richard Beatson explained: "We... know that agility and flexibility is key when undertaking land manoeuvre operations."

The mine ploughs span the entire width of the vehicle from track to track, creating a path through a minefield that is large enough for other tanks and vehicles to follow.

The mine ploughs lift hidden or buried mines and improvised explosive devices to ground level and shift them away from the path of the vehicle.

The dozer blades, meanwhile, can be used to destroy obstacles and urban roadblocks as well as pick up earth and fill holes.

The Polish armed forces are set to receive the Abrams M1A2 SEP V3 main battle tanks later this year.

BFBS Forces News saw the SEP V3 variant in action during Exercise Diamondback in the baking hot Mojave Desert two years ago.

The M1A2 offers better protection and more survivability, while also having greater lethality than past versions of the M1.

Staff Sergeant Anthony Serio described the main battle tank and its capabilities to BFBS Forces News, especially its main gun and three machine guns.  

He said: "[It has] a 120mm main gun – a smoothbore cannon – and it has a coaxial machine gun in line with the main gun.

"It has an M2 Browning .50 calibre machine gun – that machine gun has been in service for coming up to 90 years at this point – as well as the loader, it has another 7.62 calibre machine gun."

The M1A2 SEP V3 Abrams main battle tank, which is crewed by four personnel, is 9.7m long and 3.7m wide, and weighs around 68 tonnes.