THE British Army has placed a $16.5 million order for JCB’s backhoe loaders for deployment in Afghanistan.

British designed and engineered, the High Mobility Engineering Excavators (HMEEs) were developed specially for the US Army, which placed an order for 800 of the 95 km per hour machines in 2005 for military engineering tasks in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now the Ministry of Defence in the UK is purchasing JCB HMEEs, which will go into service in 2009. The vehicles will be used to clear routes in advance of soldiers being deployed to a specific region and will be manufactured at JCB’s North American factory in Savannah, Georgia.

The HMEE will provide a unique plant capability to commanders on the ground, delivering greatly enhanced operational flexibility over traditional plant.

The HMEE allows ‘self deployment’ of plant in support of long range, fast moving operations, without the need for additional support vehicles to carry the plant between tasks.

This reduces the overall logistical footprint of the plant, while the integral crew protection kit and fully air conditioned cab affords unparalleled levels of protection and comfort to the operators.

The machine combines the capabilities of the world-renowned JCB backhoe loader and the high-speed JCB Fastrac agricultural tractor.

The HMEE comes with three steering modes: two-wheel steering for on-highway travel; four-wheel steer for loading duties and confined sites; and crab steer for parallel drive when digging close to walls, on side slopes or other obstacles.

Weighing about 16t with armour and 14t without armour, the four-wheel drive, four-wheel-steer machine has a 200 horsepower, 6.7-litre diesel engine.

It is capable of lifting more than 2 tonnes and can dig to a depth of almost 4 metres.