Armoured Personnel Carrier restored ahead of Hastings Anzac parade
25 Apr, 2021 11:41 PM
3 minutes to read
Mark Bixley, Todd Ballance, and Shaun Moloney with the restored personnel carrier. Photo / Paul Taylor
Hours of work went into restoring an M113 Armoured Personnel Carrier ahead of the Hastings Anzac parade on Sunday.
The APC was dedicated to the family of a New Zealand Armoured Corps officer after a chance encounter on social media.
When Mark Bixley was browsing a social media group, he knew he recognised the M113 Armoured Personnel vehicle in a picture which was shared.
Read More
Advertisement
Bixley – who served 12 and a half years in the New Zealand Army Territorials as driver and commander and trained in the M113A1 Armoured Personnel Carrier - had been working with Shaun Moloney to restore an M113 Armoured Personnel vehicle and was looking at making it a tribute to those who served in Vietnam.
autoevolution 6 Mar 2021, 14:21 UTC ·
by
Made by the Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation (FMC) starting with the 1960s, the M113 tracked armored personal carrier has been at the center of military operation for decades, having seen action all over the world, from Vietnam to Iraq. But it’s old, and for years now the U.S. Army has been looking to replace it. 8 photos
Back in 2014, BAE Systems was awarded a contract for the development of M113’s successor. Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) is how the company calls its product, and the first batches are already out in the field, performing tests. The first true operational trials though (under realistic combat conditions) will not take place before the first few months of next year, according to Defense News.