Land Rovers And British Military

British army was always on the lookout for good vehicles that can be used for military purposes. In 1948, soon after the first Land Rover was launched, British army found it very much good to have to serve their purposes. Till then, they were using the Austin Champ vehicle for their military utilities. But the heavily packed vehicle proved to be too heavy for them to use in tough situations and they turned to Land Rover. Ever since then, it has all been Land Rover, for British military needs.

Land Rovers were accepted by the British government as their standard military vehicle. This was a part of their policy to standardize everything that came under British military. The attempt make changes in Land Rover engines proved to be too demanding as the incompatibility between the two models were not acceptable. Later, they continued with Land Rovers and initially fifty Land Rovers were purchased by the government and this turned 200 by the end of 1950. During the Korean War, as well as the Suez crisis, Land Rovers were extensively used by the British military forces.

The British government made an interesting move by purchasing less number of rear-wheel-drives. This move was instrumental in the sense that it virtually replaced the car like trucks used by the militant forces for general transportation. Apart from that, a few 2WD models were also employed, mainly for militant recovery purposes as well as aircraft tug purposes. But, later it was understood that the 4WD Land Rover too was good enough to meet the requirements met by the 2WD Land Rover. Apart from that, the 4WD Land Rover had some advantages over 2WD version as it could be easily moved in all tough circumstances and all rough surfaces including ice and fields.

Since 1960, world witnessed some of the very fine variants of Land Rovers and the British military too had a great time with those variants. Along with some of the exquisite general service Land Rovers released in 1960s, Land Rovers with innovative functionalities were also launched. One of them was the fitted for radio Land Rovers, which had radios powered by high volt generators. Land Rover ambulances also was among the pick of military authorities as it served all emergency purposes needed in a crisis or an emergency situation.

Another famous model was the ‘Long Range Desert Patrol Vehicle' (LRDPV) also known as the "Pink Panther". It was a huge vehicle and was named so because of its pink color and appearance. This version of Land Rover was well equipped with all military equipments including machine guns, grenade launchers, huge water tanks etc. these types of Land Rovers were specially employed in important and tough situations and was very much handy for the British military.

It is astonishing to learn that the British military almost had 9000 Land Rover series 3 cars and vehicles of different variants suited for different purposes and operations towards the end of the 1970s. They have standardized Land Rover as their multipurpose-all purpose vehicle.