Armor: Wildcats And Jackals

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August 1, 2011: British vehicle manufacturer, Supacat, which supplies high mobility vehicles for industry and the military, has produced a new Special Forces patrol vehicle by militarizing the civilian Wildcat DKR off-road vehicle. The result is a vehicle similar to Supacat's own Jackal off-road patrol vehicle, but at half the price. However, the Wildcat does not have the anti-mine armor and general bullet-proofing.

Britain has already ordered several hundred of the MWMIK Jackal armored patrol vehicles. Weighing 6.6 tons (less than half as much as an MRAP), the 4x4 Jackals do most of their travelling off road, thus avoiding most roadside bombs and mines. Jackal is basically a patrol vehicle, carrying up to five people. This vehicle is armored on the bottom to give protection from mines, but is largely open up top. The vehicle mounts 12.7mm and 7.62mm machine-guns, as well as a 40mm automatic grenade launcher. The Supacat chassis has been around for a while, and comes in 6x6 versions as well. It has excellent cross country capabilities. Top speed of the MWMIK is 80 kilometers an hour, and the vehicle normally carries 3-4 troops. These were initially bought for the SAS commandos, who were quite pleased with the vehicle. The British Army began ordering Jackals for Afghanistan service three years ago.

Jackals are fairly compact vehicles (5.4 x2x2 meters) with one meter ground clearance. Top road speed is 130 kilometers/81 miles an hour. Jackals are usually armed with a 12.7mm and a 7.62mm machine-guns. About half the Jackals are the Jackal 2, which seats four, has better overhead protection and better resistance to IEDs. The Wildcat is a much lighter vehicle (at 2.5 tons) but has the same cross-country mobility.