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AG1M2 Cronel

The AG1 Cronel is a specialized combat engineering vehicle of the Khertland army specialized in demining and breaching operations. It is based off of the Escutcheon III tank chassis leftover after their replacement by the Escutcheon IVs. The Cronel comes equipped with a mine plow and two mine-clearing line charge at the turret bustle. Additionally, it could carry a fascine for filling in trenches and anti-tank ditches. It is also armed with a breech-loaded 230mm mortar for demolition purposes, particularly anti-tank traps, barbed wire, and defensive earthwork. For self-defense it has a 12.7mm pintle mounted machinegun on the left side for the commander.

The AG1 Cronel was envisioned to provide the army with a vehicle that could do multiple tasks required of combat engineers on a single platform. This included the ability for it to clear mine field quickly and effectively which was seen as the safest way to do so while under enemy fire. That was why the vehicle came with two MCLC in its bustle. It allowed the vehicle to rapidly clear a path of up to several hundred meters long of mines in minutes. The mine plow acted as an additional measure for doubling down this path to make sure any leftover mines are pushed aside. As such the Cronel was designed to lead an armored column through the path it created, however in practice, the value of such a vehicle meant commanders often didn't want to put it at risk in such a role.
Nonetheless, in order to directly support armored formations in a breaching operation, it carries a fascine on the rear of the turret to fill ditches so other vehicles can cross. Due to the mine plow placement, and engine deck, the tank and turret turned to its side in order to drop the fascine. In the same vein, it can use its massive 230mm (460 actual) mortar to destroy anti-tank obstacles once again to allow for armored vehicles to move through.

Despite this, its turret armor is extremely thin filled with loads of explosives inside and is why commanders are rather risk adverse when it comes to using it in such an aggressive manner. It's hull armor however is well protected being based off of a main battle tank chassis albeit due to being a older generation it is all-steel armor and not composite. Combined with the rather large plow in front, the hull is extremely resilient to gunfire. Regardless, due to the inherent risk of its role, the Cronel are often loaded with 230mm smoke rounds fired for its mortar in addition to its massive HE round. It also has smoke dischargers and can inject fuel into its exhaust as another means to create a smoke screen. Nonetheless, it is expected artillery fired smoke would be its primary means of concealment. Additional direct and indirect fire would be used to suppress the defenders during the process.
The vehicle is crewed by 3 people. The driver, gunner, and commander/loader. Due to all the equipment, there was not enough space to fit an autoloader or human loader, forcing the commander to double up as one. This was originally a point of criticism but since the large mortar was only fired in specific circumstances, it was deemed acceptable. For these same reasons, it does not carry many rounds.

Because combat engineers are a specialized and highly trained field, there is often shortage of qualified personnel. To multiply the capabilities of a limited pool of combat engineers, the TT-2M1 Lancea was developed. It is a towed trailer with two more MCLC and is intended to double the charges available for mine clearing operations of the Cronel. Although the Cronel does not always need it to operate and often are deployed without the trailer. The trailer instead can be distributed to other lighter vehicles to provide them with demining capabilities. The launching rails on the trailer is collapsible and mounted on a rotating platform giving it 360 degrees firing arc similar to the turret of the Cronel. This means a single combat engineering crew can clear four separate paths in a minefield in order to reduce funneling and drastically increasing the chance of success for a otherwise dangerous operation. Alternatively, it can combine all four MCLC to create over a kilometer long path, rendering even the deepest minefields irrelevant with just a single vehicle. A Cronel combined with the Lancea trailer means at the division level, it can distribute just one or maybe two vehicles to each Combined Arms team and achieve success.

Doctrinally however, the AG1M2 Cronel would still not operate alone even in the demining operation. Rollers and plows mounted on normal main battle tanks are still expected to help supplement them during the main assault. The critical issue with using just the Cronel is that it has one plow but multiple MCLCs. So it can clear multiple paths fairly well, but can only help lead a single column. Of course it is possible, to fire more than one MCLC on a single area to make sure there are no mines left. The least ideal solution is just to send tanks after a single line charge went off and hope all the mines were sympathetically detonated. This is generally advised against, and instead reloading the MCLCs or calling for more demining assets(At least a company of AG1 Cronels are at the division level) is recommended unless it is a time sensitive mission.

--Cronel--
Blocks: 526
Volume: 826 cubic meter
Cost: 14,249
Weight: 27,581
Length: 20m (hull), 24m (total)
Width: 9m
Height: 6m (roof), 8m (total)
Speed: 25 m/s
Weapon system: 230mm (460 actual) HE mortar (2 rpm)

Armor:
Front Hull: 10m metal
Side Hull: 3m metal
Rear Hull: 1m metal
Turret all-aspect: 1m metal

--TT-2M1 Lancea--
Blocks: 186
Volume: 175 cubic meter
Cost: 8,035
Weight: 2,445
Length: ~17m (21m actual)
Width: 7m
Height: 3-4m
Weapon system: 2x Mine-clearing Line Charge

Notes: To have the two separated, just save the trailer as its own BP. For the tank, scrap the trailer and resave the tank as a separate BP. I have both the combined and separate BPs but decided to only upload the combined BP for simplicity.