BAE Systems announced that three M88A2 vehicles have been delivered to Poland, aiming to enhance Polish Armed Forces’ vehicle recovery and support operation capabilities. 

📸: The first three M88A2 Armored Recovery Vehicles have arrived in Poland this week to help enhance the Polish Army’s armored formations.

The M88A2 is a highly capable platform with the ability to recover and support every vehicle platform in the Polish Army’s inventory. 💪 pic.twitter.com/D5taJFuRhz

— BAE Systems, Inc. (@BAESystemsInc) June 30, 2023

The M88A2 HERCULES is an upgraded version of the heavy armored recovery vehicle M-88 and M88A1. While the M88A1 was primarily intended for the M60 series tank, the M88A2 is focused on the Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT). This upgrade was carried out in response to a request from the US Army to safely tow and recover damaged, temporarily disabled or out-of-service Abrams main battle tanks from the battlefield.

The M88A2 HERCULES is a heavy-equipment, armored, recovery combat utility lift and evacuation system used in battlefield rescue missions capable of performing lifting, winching, and towing operations for today’s heaviest combat systems. As such, it is equipped to assist in the repair of disabled vehicles and to recover vehicles under enemy fire.

The said vehicle is based on the previous variant’s modified M88A1 hull to meet the increased requirements for M1, M1A1, and M1A2 battle tanks. Regarding its firepower, it is equipped with a single turret armed with a 12.7 mm M2 heavy machine gun (1,300 rounds) and six smoke grenade launchers for self-protection. 

In terms of survivability, the vehicle features add-on protection with ballistic qualities and it is suitable for environments tainted with nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) agents. Indicatively, the armor provides ballistic protection against fire up to 30 mm and shell fragments up to 152 mm. The crew of the M88A2 HERCULES consists of three members: the commander, the operator, and the mechanic, with storage space for four members of the recovered vehicle.

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M88A2 HERCULES’s technical characteristics:

• Width: 11.25 ft
• Boom capacity: 35 tons
• Winch capacity: 70 tons
• Maximum operational range: 483 km
• Crew: three soldiers
• Speed: 48 km/h
• Height: 10.25 ft
• Engine: V12 air-cooled Twin-turbo diesel engine with 1,050 hp
• Ground clearance: 0.43 meters
• Combat weight: 70 tons

The Hercules can recover up to 70t combat vehicles such as Leopard, M1A1, M1A2, bridging systems, and other vehicles. The vehicle was built with a long 35t boom and 140,000lb constant pull main winch for superior and easier winching ability. It is also equipped with an 85.3-meter cable and an auxiliary 3-ton winch.

The M88A2 was developed to give 55% more winching power, 40% more lifting strength, and 25% extra towing muscle, while it can provide refueling and defueling services to vehicles and be used for slave-starting and hydraulic winching.

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The procurement of the M88A2 armored recovery vehicles underlines Poland’s commitment to modernize its military equipment by allowing it to recover and provide support to all types of vehicles in the Polish Army’s fleet, but specifically to the recently acquired Abrams battle tanks. 

Also, the system’s development is ongoing, as BAE Systems was awarded a contract of $318m to upgrade the M88 recovery vehicle for enabling the battlefield recovery of an upgraded Abrams tank in September 2019. The new variant M88A3 shall be able to recover the advanced version of the M1A2 Main Battle Tank. The project is expected to complete in 44 months.

The upgrade of M88A3 configuration includes improvements to the existing powertrain, suspension, tracks, while improving the speed, reliability, and capability of the vehicle.

The M88A2 vehicles were also ordered by countries including Australia, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, and Morocco.

Also read: US Army continues to modernize Abrams M1A2 tanks in SEPv3 version for $ 4.6 Billion – VIDEO