Here is the Terrier Combat Engineering Vehicle.
That thing is cool. Here's another pic I found
Some more info on it: A prototype of Terrier - the £300 million combat engineer vehicle under development for the Army by BAE Systems - was officially unveiled by Minister for Defence Procurement, Lord Drayson, on 27 May 2005 at BAE Systems, Leicester. Designed to withstand mine explosions, small arms fire and artillery while digging trenches or clearing obstacles for the infantry, Terrier will become a vital tool for the Royal Engineers when it enters service towards the end of the decade. It will be equipped with a machine gun for self defence, but can be entirely operated by remote control, should the area it needs to work in be initially too dangerous for troops to enter. As well as being able to operate under fire, Terrier will also be equally important for peacetime operations, and by replacing its mine plough with a fork lift will be able to move supplies for troops or humanitarian aid.
That would be nice for working in some areas of the city.
Heck I just want to drive it to the city!
That thing will cost a bazillion bucks -- or pounds, each. It will be extremely inefficient. It will be very complex and be broke down all the time. There will never be a decent operator for it when needed, and it will always be locked up far away from combat because it's far too valuable to be near any fighting where it may be damaged. Did I mention there will never be any off-the-shelf spare parts for it within two thousand miles of where they are needed? It will have four types of starting systems, redundant hydraulics, be able to run on anything including Vodka, be able to operate both under satellite remote control and it's own CPU, all of which will never work as intended when needed of course. Better the military bought a couple hundred (about a 100 to 1 cost ratio) regular front-end loader/backhoes and threw a little 1/4" steel plate over the ROPS structure. They are cheap, efficient, reliable, anyone can use one, and if they get damaged, throw it away and get another. Big discount for government orders. Military/Industrial complex types love these little unknown development projects like these. Get huge development grants from the government, waste most of it designing some that is most like a platypus, and then throw it all away for scrap when it doesn't work out. Someone a taxpayer needs to start raising a howl over this POS.
i don't see how the backhoe works. how do u dig a trench and move with the hole ? Why not put the hoe out back like rubber tire?