UK military vehicle manufacturer Supacat has unveiled two new platforms that could potentially fill a number of roles for the British Army, as the service’s long-awaited Land Mobility Programme (LMP) moves gradually towards indicating requirements to industry.
Showcasing its Light Mobility Vehicle – Tactical (LMV-T) and a new variant to the High Mobility Transporter (HMT) family, Supacat sought to capture early headlines at the opening day of the DVD 2024 event and conference, taking place at the British Army’s Millbrook proving grounds from 18-19 September.
Intended for use by light role and very-high readiness forces, the LMV-T would be pitched towards operations with 3 Commando Brigade of the Royal Marines or the British Army’s Ranger regiment for any UK requirement.
The LMV combines Toyota automotive components with a bespoke chassis and a ‘Combat Cell’ shell and is available in 4×4 or 6×6 configurations. At around 3.5 tonnes, the LMV-T is air transportable via CH-47, C-130, A400M, and C-17, all bar one of which (the C-130) are operated by the UK military.
The Combat Cell, developed by Armoured Car Systems in Bavaria, Germany, is able to be configured depending on mission requirements, and features a crew served main weapon, such as a general-purpose machine gun, mounted on a 360° slewing ring and commander’s weapon on a dash mounted swing arm.
The rear of the cell forms a load bed for transport of vehicle and mission specific equipment. Additional applique armour can be fitted, as needed.
The UK and Germany recently signed a defence industry cooperation deal, with political leaders of both countries looking to find programmes and platforms of common interest to their respective industrial bases.
With the LMV-T pitched as a tactical operations platform, any UK requirement for such a capability would likely be in region of several hundred, if not thousands, of platforms, in replacement of legacy inventories.
It is understood the LMV-T is ready to begin further manufacturer testing, with any move to wider evaluation dependent on potential customer requirements.
Supacat’s AAC HMT variant
Meanwhile, Supacat also showcased its Armoured Closed Cab (ACC) HMT, which the company stated was intended to support the UK Ministry of Defence’s LMP effort, which will reduce the number of platform designs in service with the British Army in a bid to drive commonality and reduce costs.
It is known that the British Army, through its Materiel Distribution Land (MDL) programme, is looking at the possibility of acquiring a common base vehicle platform to fulfill a range of logistics requirements, with modular payloads providing the specialist functions of each role.
Such a platform could also offer itself as a host to kinetic effector payloads, such as seen with Project Wolfram, or battlefield sensors and command and control hubs.
