8 Oct 02. The Czech Army’s modernised T-72M4CZ main battle tanks will be powered by Caterpillar Inc.’s Perkins CV12 diesel engine rated at 1000bhp. A contract to supply the CV12 engine, which also powers the British Army’s Challenger 2 main battle tanks, has just been signed between Perkins Engines Company Limited, Caterpillar’s UK based wholly owned subsidiary, and Nimda Co. Ltd of Israel, the T-72M4CZ power pack integrator.
Under the contract, Perkins will supply 36 CV12 engines to Nimda, which will
integrate them in power packs at VOP 025 Novy Jicin, a Czech government-owned facility. The power packs will also include Allison XTG-411-6 automatic transmissions, which will be assembled under licence in the Czech Republic. As well as pursuing its own upgrade programme, the Czech government is keen to sell modernised T-72s or the modernization technology package to overseas customers such as India.
The CV12 engines will be built at Caterpillar’s Shrewsbury, UK facility on the same production line as engines for the British Army’s new Titan and Trojan engineer tanks.