Warszawska 2. The Regional Logistics Base has announced a procedure for the verification service along with the presentation of a cost estimate for the repair and/or maintenance of the F3/F4 level on the Bergepanzer 2 technical recovery vehicle.
The procedure announced by 2 RBLog concerns not so much the repair itself, but the initial acquaintance of the unit with the costs associated with this process resulting from the verification of the vehicle’s efficiency.
According to the contracting authority, the warranty for the service is to be at least 12 months. The deadline for submitting bids is set for 10:00 a.m. on March 20, and the service is to be performed by November 14, 2025.
In the case of moving to the stage of restoring the vehicle’s efficiency, it will be carried out by repairing or replacing the defective element, subassembly or assembly without making structural changes in the SpW.
It is allowed to replace an element, subassembly or assembly with a new one, not used in the first category or regenerated – technically efficient, with technical parameters in accordance with the manufacturer’s documentation, ensuring proper operation of SpW.
Damaged components and assemblies that can be regenerated, replaced with new ones, are the property of the army and are subject to transfer to the user. During the repair process, it is not necessary to replace the tracks and batteries with new ones.
The Ordering Party allows the service to be performed on the premises of the Military Unit indicated by the Ordering Party by providing a repair station with an overhead crane. The Contractor will provide all the necessary tools to perform the service, including, m.in:
- sling for dismantling the Leopard 1 tank chassis power unit,
- a set of FEM special tools for hydraulics,
- nitrogen cylinders with a regulator,
- a control device for fire protection systems,
- MES 2 for starting the engine outside the vehicle,
- A device for controlling the smoke grenade launcher.
The Bergepanzer 2 technical recovery vehicle belonging to the 10. Armoured Cavalry Brigade in Świętoszów during transport by rail.
Author. 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade in Świętoszów/Facebook
Currently, the Polish Army has 28 Bergepanzer 2 technical support vehicles, which were acquired together with the used German Leopard 2 tanks. However, this design is no longer sufficient to support the latest MBTs, and even those with increased weight, such as the Leopard 2PL, should receive a CTM with better parameters.
At one time, this problem was supposed to be solved by modernization to the PL standard, but these plans were abandoned in favor of choosing a new design in the Cayman program. This one was also canceled in 2023 after a few years, which postponed the issue of acquiring successors not only to the Bergepanzer 2, but also to parts of the WZT-2 and WZT-3.
Of course, M88A2 HERCULES vehicles are being acquired, but it is “reserved” primarily for the Abrams. The problem is the problem of armored units and artillery units that are adequate to the needs, as they lack support vehicles for the Krabi and K9 howitzers.
Bergepanzer 2 is a tracked recovery vehicle developed on the basis of the Leopard 1 Main Battle Tank chassis – it shares 75 percent of parts with it. For self-defense, the crew uses two MG3 cal. 7.62 mm and smoke grenade launchers.
Specialized equipment includes a hydraulic crane, winch and blade located at the front. The crane is located on the right side, it can be rotated by 270° and lifted up to 72°. The winch, on the other hand, has a hoisting force of 35,000 N and a rope length of 90 m.
The vehicle is powered by an MTU MB 838 CaM 500 diesel engine with 830 hp, which allows this vehicle, which weighs nearly 40 tons, to accelerate to 62 km/h. Currently, they are used by countries such as Germany, m.in, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Turkey, Norway, Denmark, Greece and Italy.
The Bergepanzer 2 technical recovery vehicle belonging to the 10. Armoured Cavalry Brigade in Świętoszów during transport by rail.