The winch was powered by an auxiliary engine and could pull a load of up to 90 tons using a system of blocks, and a limited defensive capability was provided by the installation of a single 0.3-in (7.62-mm) machine gun on the commander’s cupola. The FV4006 Centurion ARV Mk 2 of 1956 was the Centurion Mk 1, 2 or 3 with the turret removed and replaced by a superstructure housing a winch to create an armoured recovery vehicle. By August 1957 the tank destroyer project had been discontinued and the prototype dismantled. The project was begun in 1951/52, and by July 1955 had a lightly armoured, fully enclosed and traversable turret on the basic Centurion hull. The FV4005 Stage 2 was an experimental tank destroyer armed with a 183-mm (7.2-in) high-velocity gun. One Conway prototype was built before the project’s cancellation in 1951. The Conway was planned only as an interim type to serve until the Conqueror heavy tank entered service. The FV4004 Conway, otherwise the Self-Propelled Gun, 120 mm, L1 Gun, Mk 3, was a prototype based on the hull of the Centurion Mk 3 hull but armed with a 120-mm (4.72-mm) L1 rifled gun in a turret made from rolled plate. This variant was last used in the 1991 ‘Gulf War’. The FV4003 was also fitted with a hydraulically operated dozer blade or a mine plough, and could carry a fascine bundle or a roll of metal Class 60 Trackway, or alternatively could tow the Viper mine-clearance equipment or a trailer. The vehicle was fitted with a 165-mm (6.5-in) low-velocity demolition gun that could fire a 60-lb (27.22-kg) HESH (High Explosive Squash Head) projectile out to a range of some 2,000 yards (1830 m) for the breaching of obstacles. The FV4003 was the five-man Centurion Mk 5 AVRE 165, a 1963 AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) vehicle for assault pioneer tasks. This was 52 ft (15.85 m) ) long and 13 ft (3.96 m) wide, and could be launched in a time of somewhat less than two minutes to span a gap of 45 ft (13.72 m) with a height difference of up to 8 ft (2.44 m) at its two ends, and could support a load of up to 80 tons. The FV4002 was the Centurion Mk 5 Bridgelayer of 1963, and took the form of a Mk 5 chassis with a No.5 Tank Bridge. The FV3805 programme was terminated during 1960 in favour of the lighter and cheaper FV433 Abbot with a 105-mm (4.13-in) gun. This was a self-propelled 5.5-in (139.7-mm) gun, again on Centurion but with a considerably more potent piece of ordnance, the engine relocated to the front of the hull and the driver positioned over the track guard. The FV3802 concept was accepted in 1954, but the type was abandoned two years later in favour of the more capable FV3805. The gun/howitzer was fitted in a barbette and was capable of traverse 45° left and right of the centreline. The engine was at the rear as in the gun tank, but there were only five rather than six road wheels on each side. The earliest of these, in designation sequence, was the FV3802, which was a self-propelled 25-pdr (3.45-in/87.6-mm) artillery prototype based on Centurion. The Centurion battle tank proved itself very adaptable for conversion to roles other than that of the gun tank, and this resulted in a multitude of designations in the FV (Fighting Vehicle) series.
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