The New Defender (i.e. L663 or Fifth Generation Land Rover model) from JLR in Slovakia is slowly emerging in various Government roles, writes Bob Morrison.
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While the New Defender (L663) has, possibly understandably, not yet made major inroads on the conventional military scene in the same way as its Series One / II / II and One-Ten / Defender model predecessors did between 1948 and 2016, the more upmarket ‘young pretender’ has been quietly growing in popularity in some blue light and diplomatic service roles.
It was the Spanish JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) distributors who first showcased the new generation Defender 110 for the military role at FEINDEF 2021 in Madrid, but hopes of this model entering mainstream military service in Spain were dashed when the Spanish government decided to replace its military utility vehicle fleet with an Iturri conversion of a Peugeot-badged Chinese pick-up truck – the Landtrek VMTT. Over the four years following the FEINDEF appearance there were persistent but mostly unsubstantiated rumours that Land Rover, who have always played their cards close to the chest, had presented the L663 Defender 110 to UK MoD but it was not until last week that the company came out of the shadows to display a vehicle at a relatively low-key military conference run the week after the UK MoD finally held its Market Interest Day at Warminster for it’s Light Mobility Vehicle project.
[© Shaun Connors]
However last November at Milipol Paris, on a joint TRASCO-Bremen and JLR display stand, both a liveried in-service Italian State Police (Polizia di Stato) Defender 110 and a company demonstrator with split Police and Military Police colour-schemes and markings were presented alongside one of the German company’s Discreetly Armoured A-KIP conversions. The New Defender 110 has been officially JLR-approved and available with TRASCO A-KIP (Anti-Kidnapping) discreet enhanced ballistic and blast protection since October 2022 and it is our understanding that in addition to some of these vehicles having been privately procured for VIP use there is at least one batch in Government service for the protection of diplomats and embassy personnel in various locations around the globe.
Italy’s Polizia di Stato are a conventional police force and their vehicle showcased on the joint stand at Milipol 2025 was unarmoured, though it was fitted with anti-riot mesh panels over the glazing and light guards. The Carabinieri are Italy’s national gendarmerie and although also a police organisation they are part of the military, tasked in both domestic and foreign roles including Special Operations; photos and videos of TRASCO A-KIP Carabinieri Defenders have been circulating online since last autumn.
This website is not the place to delve too deeply into discreet protection levels, however the following non-sensitive information is publicly provided by Jaguar Land Rover for potential customers:-
- The lightweight Anti-Kidnap, or A-KIP®, conversion offers protection with minimal compromise and its inconspicuous design ensures a Defender protected by TRASCO is virtually indistinguishable from a standard vehicle.
- Lightweight security-grade steel, glass and composite materials provide enhanced safety to clients, including government departments and high net worth individuals. Clients can choose between VPAM 4 or VPAM 6 levels of ballistic protection.
- Areas fitted with VPAM-certified ballistic materials include the windscreen, doors and door glass, roof, footwells and a new ballistic rear partition with window situated behind the second row of seats.
- The lightweight Anti-Kidnap conversion offers protection with minimal compromise and its inconspicuous design ensures a Defender protected by TRASCO is virtually indistinguishable from a standard vehicle.
- Lightweight security-grade steel, glass and composite materials provide enhanced safety to clients, including government departments and high net worth individuals. Clients can choose between VPAM 4 or VPAM 6 levels of ballistic protection.
- Areas fitted with VPAM-certified ballistic materials include the windscreen, doors and door glass, roof, footwells and a new ballistic rear partition with window situated behind the second row of seats.
I remain to be convinced that the New Defender will be suitable for UK ‘green fleet’ military service, not least because of all the electrickery (a term coined many years ago by the Land Rover sage Frank Elson) associated with modern Land Rovers, but the same can be said about many current generation 4×4 utility vehicles. However if the JLR team have been quietly developing a pick-up variant with electrics geared more to operations in remote areas over hostile terrains it could be a different story.
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