Our vehicles

During the second half of the 1990s the army identified an ever-increasing demand for flexible transport systems that could handle standardized ISO-containers and roll-on/roll-off flats without the need for additional cranes. First such prototypes were based on the ÖAF 28.343, a 28-ton chassis with the smaller 5-cylinder 340 HP engine, and a manually-controlled container/flat loading system. Based on the experience from these trials, the final contract was awarded for the heavier type 30.364, a 30-ton chassis and the bigger 6-cylinder 360 HP engine. The controls for the container/flat loading system were now fully automated with a manual override option. The characteristic ÖAF (and also MAN) designation 30.364 FNAL identifies the vehicle as “30-ton max. gross capacity chassis”, “360 HP engine”, “4-generation EVO design”, “Frontlenker (cabover design)”, “Nachlaufachse (trailing axle)”, “Allrad (4x4)”, “Luftgefedert (air-ride suspension)”..

After the end of WW2, Austrian engineer Oskar Hacker developed a small agricultural tractor based on his experience (and a stock of surviving spare parts) in developing the Steyr “RSO - Raupenschlepper Ost” (tracked tractor for eastern-front service) for the Wehrmacht during the war. These small tractors were based on a diesel engine mounted centrally in the front of the vehicle, driving the two tracks via a standard 4-speed transmission and drive shafts back to the final drives in the front of the vehicle. The Motormuli KG was first started in Vienna and by 1950/51 was transferred to Molln in Upper Austria.

In 1942 the Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Co. in Milwaukee developed the “M4 High Speed Tractor” based on the chassis of the M2 light tank (in this reference, “high speed” referred to the difference to previously horse-drawn artillery). Its maximum gross weight of 18 tons allowed this vehicle to carry the ten-men gun crew as well as the ammunition for towed guns (155-mm field gun “Long Tom”, 155-mm and 8-in field howitzer).

By the mid-1980s, these vehicles were replaced with the ÖAF 32.281 FDA “PK 30” recovery vehicles.The first prototype of the Diamond M20 with M9 low-loader trailer was developed for the US army in 1940 as tank transport system M19. In 1941 200 such systems were delivered to the British Military, some of which ended up with the British 8th Army in North Africa.