Giant Viper

The Giant Viper is a trailer-mounted, vehicle-pulled, mine-clearance system, designed to be deployed in areas containing mines. It was developed for the British Army in the 1950s. It was designed to be towed behind a Centurion gun tank, FV4003, AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers)and also the FV432 Armored personnel carrier.

The Giant Viper uses rockets to launch a 250-metre-long hose, packed with plastic explosive, across a minefield. The Giant Viper hoses were filled, in the 1970s, at the Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Chorley.[2]

Once it has fallen, the charge is detonated, clearing a six-metre-wide path through anti-personnel or anti-tank mines over a distance of around 200 metres, by sympathetic detonation.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Giant
• Viper
• mine
• clearance
• system
• British
• Army
• UK
• combat
• engineer