Scale Military Modeller International – September 2019

74 SCALE MILITARY MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

maintenance manual

Combat Engineering Vehicle

of the superstructure. The most powerful
pieces of mine clearing equipment on the
ABV are its two-line charge launchers. The
model used is the M58 Mine Clearing Line
Charge, or ‘MICLIC’. These devices are
also known as Linear Demolition Charge
Systems or ‘LDCSs’. Line charge devices
became popular in World War Two with
the British ‘Conger’ and the later Cold War
era ‘Giant Viper’. These devices are used
to clear large areas of explosive devices or
blast a path through obstacles. The M58 is
placed in a large armoured crate that, prior
to it being installed on the ABV, was usually
towed around on a simple wheeled trailer
behind M113A3 Armoured Personnel Carrier
(APC) or sometimes even the M9 Armoured
Combat Earthmover (ACE). There were other
attempts to install it on a tracked chassis such

as the M60A1 or M48A5 Armoured Vehicle-

Launched Bridge (AVLB). The line charges

installation on these vehicles led them to

them being renamed ‘M60A1 (or M48A5)

Armoured Vehicle-Launched MICLIC

(AV L M) ’.

In the case of the ABV, the whole crate

is carried as one piece. The launchers are

located at the right and left corner at the back

of the superstructure under protective shields.

For firing, the shields rise up via hydraulic

rams. On the underside of the shields are

launch rails, on which the rockets are placed.

The rockets’ thrusters are placed at its nose

and the rocket is fired forwards over the front

of the ABV. As the superstructure has an

albeit limited degree of traverse, the MICLICs

can theoretically be fired in any direction in

the traverse arc. Official guidelines, however,

state that the MICLICs should only be fired

directly forwards. The particular rocket and

line charge used is the 5-inch MK22 Mod

4 rocket, trailing an M58A3 ‘Sausage Link’

line charge, so-called because it looks like a

string of linked sausages. The line is 350 feet

long and contains five-pounds per foot of C-4

explosives. If the MICLIC fails to detonate

electrically, it can be manually triggered by

time-delay fuses along the length of the line.

The line is attached to the rocket via a nylon

rope and can reach a distance of 100 – 150

yards. When detonated, the charge can clear

a lane 110 yards long, and nine-yards wide.

Once fired, the launchers can be reloaded.

There are large doors on the sides of the

structure that swing forwards horizontally.

This allows access to the crate that holds

the explosive line which can be completely