The Taurus Armoured Recovery Vehicle aka Bergepanzer 2 ARV (Bergepanzer 1 was US supplied M88A1) was designed to undertake the following roles:

1. Recovering vehicles disabled by enemy action or mechanical failure, or that are bogged down
2. Towing disabled vehicles
3. Changing components such as power packs and turrets. (A replacement Leopard power pack is carried on the rear decking and a complete engine change can be carried out in less than 30 minutes)
4. Carrying out dozing operations
5. Fuelling vehicles

The Taurus Armoured Recovery Vehicle Armament:

1 x 7.62-mm co-axially mounted machine-gun (C6)
1 x 7.62-mm crew commander’s machine-gun (C6)
6 x 76-mm grenade launchers

The Taurus Armoured Recovery Vehicle Specifications:

Length: 7.57m
Width: 3.25m
Height: 2.7m (including turret mounted machine gun)
Crew: 4
Weight: (with spare power pack)
(empty) 39.2ton
(combat weight) 39.8ton
Max speed: (road) 62 km/h
Range: 850km
Fuel capacity: 1410 litres
Engine: Multi-fuel engine, 10 cylinders, 830hp.

Built on the chassis of a Leopard 1 Tank, it is no longer in German Army service, a number do remain in service around the world including Canada.