The Australian Mack MC3 truck family was built by Mack Trucks, which is a truck-manufacturing company based in the USA. A wholly owned subsidiary of Renault Véhicules Industriels since 1990, Mack Trucks is currently a subsidiary of AB Volvo.

The company produced the R-Series during the 1970’s and the Australian Army placed an order in 1981 for 906 vehicles in the following variants:

Cargo truck – fitted with a hydraulic crane
Medium wrecker – towing capacity of 8 tonne
Heavy recovery vehicle – intended for specialized recovery role of heavy/medium trucks and light armoured vehicles
Artillery tractor – tows the Australian Army’s M198 155mm howitzer
Other construction variants.

Deliveries to the Australian Army commenced in 1982 and all of these were delivered by 1986. In 1988, a further 19 trucks were delivered, bringing the total to 925 of all variants.

The Australian Mack MC3 truck family Spec’s

Cab – driver + 1 man
Weight (empty) – 11.57 tonne
Maximum load – 8 tonne
Length – 9.6m
Width – 2.5m
Height – 3.16m
Engine – 283hp Mack EM6-285 Maxidyne diesel
Range  – 550 to 590km
Gradient – 50%
Side slope – 50%
Fording – 0.8m