Combat engineering vehicles once only existed in theory for Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Mitchell.
The combat engineer officer spent the better part of 20 years hypothetically using assault breachers and bridging vehicles during tactical exercises without troops.
But that changed in August when the M1150 assault breacher vehicle and M1110 joint assault bridge arrived at 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment (3CER).
"We used to play YouTube clips to demonstrate what these vehicles could do," the 3CER commanding officer said.
"To have them physically with us, testing and evaluating how they work; they've been incredibly impressive. They do what it says on the label."
The vehicles enable the unit to breach obstacles they previously couldn't, such as anti-tank minefields and ditches, while also speeding up the process for other tasks.
Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell said how fast a clearance was depended on an obstacle's complexity.
"Two to three minutes to reduce an anti-tank minefield, three to four minutes to reduce an anti-tank ditch," he said.
"That's then enabling the assault force to move through unimpeded to clear the objective.
"Combine that with capabilities we had previously but now mounted in an armoured platform. That enables us to support an armoured formation."
'To have them physically with us, testing and evaluating how they work; they've been incredibly impressive. They do what it says on the label.'
The total number of vehicles the unit will operate is yet to be finalised, but they reached initial operating capability with a troop of 12 breaching and six bridging vehicles.
This was mixed with sappers in M113s, and in future there will be Redback infantry fighting vehicles to form the armoured combat engineer system.
Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell said the regiment would also undergo a cultural shift to manage maintenance and sustainment of the new vehicles, which increased the unit's logistics needs by about 200 per cent.
"But that's been factored into the project delivery and introduction into service across the brigade," he said.
"It's not just about one individual unit; it translates to additional support required from [3rd Combat Service Support Battalion] 3CSSB, [10th Force Support Battalion] 10FSB and [Joint Logistics Unit (North Queensland)] JLU NQLD.
"They're all ready to support the armoured brigade's transition."
