The D9 Large Full Tracked Dozer is a heavy, full-tracked, low-speed bulldozer. The vehicle can be used for dozing, ripping hard soil. obstacle breaching and mine clearing operations.The vehicle is fitted with a large front mounted bulldozer blade and a rear mounted ripper. A Utility-Blade(U)with 16.4m3capacity or a Straight-Utility-Blade (SU) with 13.5m3capacity can be used with the D9R. The U-Blade is 4,645 mm wide,1,934mm high and has a weight of 7,352kg.The singles shank blade of the ripper can be used to a depth of 1,242mm and the ripper has a weight of 4,858kg. U.S.engineers claim that one D9 is able to do the work of four D7 bulldozer. Already during the Vietnam Wars the U.S.Army operated a fleet of D9. After the war these were decommissioned in favor of the lighter D7. In 2003,during the build-up for OIF, the U.S Army purchased 14 Caterpillar D9R from the Israeli Defense Forces. The vehicles were bought together with Tractor Protection Kits manufactured by Israeli Military Industries. The bulldozers were bought by the U.S.Army as the military anticipated heavy fighting in Iraq’s built-up areas during the upcoming invasion. The decision to purchase the vehicles was based on the good experiences made by the Israeli Army during fighting in the towns of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Here the Caterpillar bulldozers proved their capabilities when removing barricades, clearing minefields and IEDs, breaking ways into barricaded houses in which the enemy vehicles to push through the gaps. Caterpillar built the fires D9 tracked type tractors in 1955.Since then randomly upgraded variants entered production. The D9L was the first variant that featured a “High Driver” design that provides the vehicle with more ground clearance. Production of D9L started in 1980.Production of the improved D9R began in 1995. The most modern version of the D9 produced by Caterpillar is the D9T.The D9R of the U.S.Military in service saw intensive action under OIF and were present during the initial breaching of the Iraqi border defenses.