A barrage of tank and Australian light armoured vehicle (ASLAV) fire shatters an enemy HQ on a hill about 1.5km away, before 155mm artillery rains down on an adjacent enemy bunker complex.
Armoured vehicles switch their fire to the bunkers as artillery smoke rounds land nearby, shrouding the approach of 3rd Brigade's new combat engineering vehicles.
An M1150 assault breacher vehicle reaches the edge of an enemy anti-tank minefield and deploys a mine-laying clearing charge.
The ground shakes and a massive smoke plume rises as 1500 kilograms of explosives rips into the minefield before the vehicle moves through the burned area, ploughing a safe lane.
Abrams tanks pour through the breach, stopping at a deep ditch and providing cover while an M1110 joint assault bridge spans the obstacle before the attack continues.
The activity was a demonstration of 3rd Brigade's new heavy armoured capability for senior officers and civilians at the Townsville Field Training Area on September 15-16.
'The tank gives us unmatched lethality in the close fight and these new platforms, using the same tanks chassis, give us that unmatched mobility.'
Brigadier Ben McLennan said the new combat engineering vehicles helped uphold the brigade's mantra: twice the speed equals five times the advantage.
"Having these platforms here allows us to break through the most formidable defences that previously would have taken hours; now it takes a matter of minutes," Brigadier McLennan said.
With the new vehicles based on the Abrams tank chassis, Brigadier McLennan said they also brought a level of protection the brigade's engineers never had before.
"The tank gives us unmatched lethality in the close fight and these new platforms, using the same tanks chassis, give us that unmatched mobility," he said.
With 3rd Brigade's reclassification as an armoured formation earlier this year, Brigadier McLennan said his vehicles were only as good as their supporting logistics and command networks, meaning armoured breaching and attacks had to be practised along with supply, repair and recovery.
"It's a system. If you don't have the parts interdependent, working with each other, these will run out of fuel, they'll get damaged and we won't be able to bring them back into the fight," Brigadier McLennan said.
He said the brigade was now working on further integration of the combat engineering vehicles.
"We're so grateful we're the recipients of these types of platforms, and I know that our Army has worked in some cases for decades to get to this point," Brigadier McLennan said.
