Caterpillar D9 vs Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle

Caterpillar D9 — licensed reference photograph

AEngineering & recovery

Caterpillar D9

Heavy bulldozer

Credit

Shaun Greiner · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Resized · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source ↗ · Modified

Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle — licensed reference photograph

BEngineering & recovery

Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle

Armoured Recovery Vehicle

Credit

JzG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source ↗ · Modified

First system

Second system

At a glance

Side by side

Length comparisonOne shared metre scale

Caterpillar D9Length

8.1 m

Length source ↗

Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery VehicleLength

9.61 m

Length source ↗

Lengths retain their source configuration and measurement scope.

Caterpillar D9larger figure on 1 of 2

Height+28%

Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehiclelarger figure on 1 of 2

Length+19%

Counts only measures both sources give with the same scope. A larger figure is not a better system.

Measured figures

Head to head

7 of 31 rows sourced on both sides

8.1m

9.61m

Length+19%

All recorded figures & sources

8.1 m

Length

Single source

26.5 ft (8.1 m)^[source]

9.61 m

Length

Single source

9.61 m (31.5 ft)^[source]

4.5mblade

3.62m

Width

All recorded figures & sources

4.5 m

blade

Single source

14.7 ft (4.5 m) (blade)^[source]

3.62 m

Width

Single source

3.62 m (11.9 ft)^[source]

3.13m

Height+28%

All recorded figures & sources

4 m

Height

Single source

13 ft (4.0 m)^[source]

3.13 m

Height

Single source

3.13 m (10.3 ft)^[source]

49tWeight

61.2t

Mass

All recorded figures & sources

48,988 kg

Weight

Single source

108,000 lb (48,988 kg)^[source]

61,200 kg

Mass

Single source

61.2 t (60.2 long tons; 67.5 short tons)^[source]

—

Crew

All recorded figures & sources

3 people

Crew

Single source

3^[source]

15km/hMaximum; Reverse

59km/hMaximum; Maximum speed

SpeedScopes differ

All recorded figures & sources

11.7 km/h

Maximum; Forward

Single source

14.6 km/h

Maximum; Reverse

Single source

7.3 mph (11.7 km/h) Forward 9.1 mph (14.6 km/h) Reverse^[source]

59.2 km/h

Maximum; Maximum speed

Single source

59.2 km/h (36.8 mph)^[source]

—

500kmOperational; Operational range

Range

All recorded figures & sources

500 km

Operational; Operational range

Single source

500 km (310 mi)^[source]

—

895kWPerkins-Condor CV12-5C/6C

Power

All recorded figures & sources

894.839846 kW

Perkins-Condor CV12-5C/6C

Single source

Perkins-Condor CV12-5C/6C 1200 bhp^[source]

Bars compare reported quantities only. A larger figure does not make a system better; configurations and test conditions differ.

Configuration

Details

Caterpillar D9 and Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle configuration
Specification	Caterpillar D9	Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle
Type	Heavy bulldozer^[source]	Armoured Recovery Vehicle^[source]
Manufacturer	Caterpillar^[source]	Vickers plc, Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land^[source]
Production	1955 -^[source]	—
Propulsion	Continuous track^[source]	—
Engine model	CAT C18 ACERT (D9T) 3408 HEUI (D9R)^[source]	—
Gross power	464 hp (346 kW) D9T 474 hp (353 kW) D9R^[source]	—
Flywheel power	410 hp (310 kW) D9T 410 hp (310 kW) D9R 375 hp (280 kW) D9N 460 hp (340 kW) D9L^[source]	—
Drawbar pull	71.6 tons^[source]	—
Blade capacity	17.7 cu yd (13.5 m 3 ) 9 SU blade 21.4 cu yd (16.4 m 3 ) 9 U blade^[source]	—
Country of origin	United States^[source]Inventory Origin column; table 5, row 71, cell 3; revision 1377737772; retrieved 2026-10-01	—
Place of origin	—	United Kingdom^[source]
In service	—	1988 - present^[source]
Used by	—	British Army Royal Army of Oman^[source]
Wars	—	First Gulf War Iraq War War in Afghanistan^[source]
Designer	—	Vickers Defence^[source]
Designed	—	1985^[source]
Produced	—	1988-1993^[source]
No. built	—	84^[source]
Passengers	—	2^[source]
Armour	—	Rolled homogeneous armour and applique armour^[source]
Main armament	—	None^[source]
Secondary armament	—	1 x 7.62mm GPMG Smoke dischargers^[source]
Transmission	—	David Brown TN54E^[source]

FORCETALLY

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Caterpillar D9

Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle

Type

Heavy bulldozer^[source]

Armoured Recovery Vehicle^[source]

Manufacturer

Caterpillar^[source]

Vickers plc, Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land^[source]

Production

1955 -^[source]

—

Propulsion

Continuous track^[source]

—

Engine model

CAT C18 ACERT (D9T) 3408 HEUI (D9R)^[source]

—

Gross power

464 hp (346 kW) D9T 474 hp (353 kW) D9R^[source]

—

Flywheel power

410 hp (310 kW) D9T 410 hp (310 kW) D9R 375 hp (280 kW) D9N 460 hp (340 kW) D9L^[source]

—

Drawbar pull

71.6 tons^[source]

—

Blade capacity

17.7 cu yd (13.5 m 3 ) 9 SU blade 21.4 cu yd (16.4 m 3 ) 9 U blade^[source]

—

Country of origin

United States^[source]Inventory Origin column; table 5, row 71, cell 3; revision 1377737772; retrieved 2026-10-01

—

Place of origin

—

United Kingdom^[source]

In service

—

1988 - present^[source]

Used by

—

British Army Royal Army of Oman^[source]

Wars

—

First Gulf War Iraq War War in Afghanistan^[source]

Designer

—

Vickers Defence^[source]

Designed

—

1985^[source]

Produced

—

1988-1993^[source]

No. built

—

84^[source]

Passengers

—

2^[source]

Armour

—

Rolled homogeneous armour and applique armour^[source]

Main armament

—

None^[source]

Secondary armament

—

1 x 7.62mm GPMG Smoke dischargers^[source]

Transmission

—

David Brown TN54E^[source]