Supacat turns 4x4 rally car into military vehicle
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The Engineer tests out Supacat's new high-mobility military vehicle the Wildcat, based on Qt Services' rally raid 4x4.
Monday, 28 May 2012
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Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | 9 Mar 2012 6:20 pm
The Wildcat looks like more of the Jackal/Coyote approach and is clearly not a V hull design. The type of operations we will be faced with in the future will almost certainly have enduring counter insurgency (COIN) phases, either from the outset, or after a short conventional phase. In these operations your opponent is inferior in most aspects and must remain hidden as much as possible from your forces, using insidious methods of attack such as the road mine. I believe that at long last and after many unnecessary casualties in Afghanistan, quite a few in the Jackal, the UK Army/MOD has woken up to the need to at least ensure its wheeled vehicles follow the basic design concepts that are so effective in reducing casualties in under hull blast encounters such as from mine attack. Avoid front axle seating and have an armoured V hull and you will achieve remarkable lifesaving results as the Rhodesian and South African forces discovered 4 decades ago. It’s all about obeying the Laws of Physics, stupid! The Wildcat is just another fast “Rally-Raid” boy’s toy as was the Jackal. Hopefully since the SPV400 was trounced by the OCELOT for the light protected patrol vehicle requirement, Supacat will have learnt their lesson and binned the Wildcat. If not, for the sake of the lives of British servicemen I hope they do not get a look-in for any of the OUVS 2012 requirements unless they wise up to the fact that speed may have attracted some empty headed staff officers in the MOD OR and PE branches in the last decade, but post OCELOT, no longer.
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Roger Sloman | 19 Apr 2012 11:37 am
Generally agreed with the comments from your anonymous reader, but with this proviso. Advanced Blast & Ballistic Systems Ltd. active blast protection technologies (VGAM - Vehicle Global Acceleration Mitigation, and VAFS - Vehicle Armoured Floor Stabilisation can provide very significant mine blast protection even to small light vehicles such as this, directly counteracting the mine blast forces.
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