Our military mini spider cranes made an appearance in this month’s issue of official Ministry of Defence magazine “Desider”, as they have been working on Chinook helicopters at Camp Bastion, the main British Forces military base in Afghanistan.
These modified camouflage green UNIC mini cranes were sold to the Ministry of Defence in 2012 and are now used for lifting heavy aircraft parts when the Chinook engineering team are performing essential maintenance and repair work on their fleet of helicopters.
The 2.9 tonne capacity UNIC URW-376 army mini spider cranes are ideal for safely working around the helicopters as they can lift with precision and even have a stealth mode where operating lights can be dimmed done and audio alerts silenced for working in hazardous zones. As the cranes are so lightweight and compact, they can even be transported inside an aircraft, or slung underneath in a cargo net.
The main benefit of using the UNIC spider to service the helicopters at Camp Bastion is that heavy lifting no longer has to be restricted to using a gantry crane in the hangar, the mini crane can be taken out directly to the Chinook on the flight line, saving a lot of time.
UNIC Cranes Europe is supporting the 2013 Help for Heroes 4×4 European Rally as an official sponsor for the second year running. To make a donation or find out more about this event which is raising money to help wounded UK troops, please visit www.h4hrally.co.uk.
