So,what's a "Hagg"?

Short for Hagglund, it is a Swedish all terain vehicle which we Aussies use to ground transport ourselves around Antartica. Not a bad piece of "kit" be it a little gutless. The AAD has a couple of versions with either a 4 or 6 cylinder Cummins Diesel. The new 4 cylinder is a turbo charged 3.9L common rail diesel with about 110KW. It's still a push rod engine. It is coupled to an auto transmission. It steers just like a car, and with the T bar auto, its very easy to drive.Very agricultural in design and comfort. It is supposed to float as well, but to be frank, you wouldn't place to much faith in it to stay afloat if you punched through some sea ice. All of our Hagg's are coupled to a trailer of some sort which have their own drive train. They articulate very well making them easy to back and track. Very low ground pressure, lower than a human, making them capable of traversing some pretty soft ground. However, they do bog, mainly because people don't do a foot inspection of unknown territory pior to proceeding. They do have a self recovery winch that can be plonked on either the front or rear.



They are equiped with GPS and Radar for navigation and have a variety of comms including HF radios. They can carry 4 personnel in the front and when equipped with a personnel carrier on the back, 6 more. The personnel in the back are very uncomfortable due to the lousy seats, wooden benches, and it's bloody cold. My advice, get in the front. Can be a little noicy in the front, but not unbearable. Ear muffs or plugs counter the noise if you find it's a little loud. The top allowable speed of 30km per hour ensures you have plenty of time to get a numb bum, so take little things like chocolate bars and or muesli bars to pig out on during your trip.