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BG Archive – HET Heavy Equipment Trailer
– DAF Tropco Tractor |
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Note: The Tropco
was an interim system leased from the Netherlands. This page is intended to provide background for the CF Doll HET.
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Nothing Daffy Here – the 'Militarized' XF95 Truck
The tractor component of Tropco – a contraction of the Dutch trekkeropleggercombinatie
(tractor/semi- trailer combination) – is properly the DAF YTZ95.530 but it's always referred to as an
XF95, the commercial model upon which the military truck is based. Tropco was based on established commercial
components to simplify the repair-and-maintenance element built into the original procurement contract. So,
both DAF truck and Bruihuis seven-axle semi-trailer
were 'militarized' COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf ) purchases.
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Tropco DAF XF95 Tractor
– Specifications
| Protection: |
56 x Armour Protection Kits |
Powerplant:
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12.9 L, 395 kW (530 hp) Paccar
MX [2]
6-cylinder turbo diesel |
Trans.:
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12-spd ZF TC Tronic automatic
(ZF WSK 440
torque converter) |
| Equipment: |
winches, 2 x main, 1 x aux. [3] |
| Combo: |
length: 20 m, total weight:
102 t |
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[1] All Tropco tractors are equipped for add-on armour. Plasan Sasa supplied 56 ballistische beschermingskits
or 'ballistic protection kits' which bolt to the standard cabin. Normal Tropco crew is two but the
DAF Space Cab sleeper bunk converts into seats for two more crew.
[2] Although exclusive to DAF Trucks, the MX engine series is attributed to US parent firm, Paccar. The ZF95 480
(properly, YTZ95.480s) tractor for 4-axle trailers has a 320 kW (480 hp) MX diesel and ZF AS-Tronic transmission
reflecting its reduced max payload of 41 tonnes. Paccar, based in Bellevue, Washington, is also parent company
for US truck makers Kenworth (Kirkland, WA) and Peterbilt (Denton, TX).
[3] The remotely-controlled, hydraulically-driven, recovery winches are mounted behind the cab. All winches
were specially designed for the KL by Braden (a part of the Oklahoma-based Paccar Winch Division). Each main HP55
winch has 53m of cable and pulls 24,500kg. The HP2 auxiliary winch has 110 m of cable and pull 1000 kg.
(XF95 430s have HP35 main winches, Braden model numbers showing pull in lbs).
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HET (Heavy Equipment Trailer) – the Dutch Army's DAF XF95 Tropco Tractor on
Lease to the CF
In late 2007, a rather worse-for-wear Dutch Army truck arrived back at Eindhoven aboard an An-124. The vehicle was
riddled with holes (probably from an IED blast). Inside the cab was a
hand-written note which read: "Sorry for blowing up your truck! But it saved two lives! So thank you so much!"
This truck was part of a Tropco tractor-trailer leased to the CF by Dutch forces in Afghanistan to provide us
with a way to transport new 
A Tropco DAF tractor differs from its commercial counterparts mainly in its drivetrain and crew protection.
The MX375 engine
produces 20 hp more, a TC-Tronic transmission replaces the ZF AC- Tronic, and the axles are specially produced for
Tropcos. Protection is provided by a Plasan Sasa add- on armour kit. A CF crew walked away
from the Tropco cab above, proving those armour kits' value.