Takom 1/35 M9 ACE US Armored Combat Earthmover Kit

The M9 is a highly mobile, armored, amphibious tractor, dozer and scraper. Initial design concepts began in 1964 and production versions were finally fielded in 1986. Its role is to support forces in both offensive and defensive operations. It performs critical combat engineer tasks such as digging fighting positions for infantry, tanks, artillery and other battlefield systems to increase their survivability in battle. The M9 also performs tasks in combat such as breaching defensive positions, clearing roads and removing roadblocks.

The M9 is operated by the US, South Korea and Taiwan and has been involved notable in deployments in Kuwait and Iraq. Though in Iraq it performed exceptionally well when problems were encountered such as having a single operator and no weapon system for local suppression. Due to this it required two Bradley Fighting Vehicles for protection during combat operations.

It also suffered from visibility issues with the hatch needing to be closed during combat operations and time-consuming maintenance requirements. Some of these issues were rectified when the M9 began upgrades in 2014. The kit represents an M9 pre 2014.