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JODDB Al-Barq Armoured Tactical Vehicle

JODDB Al-Barq light armoured tactical vehicle at SOFEX 2022 [© Bob Morrison]

The JODDB Al-Barq (Lightning) Armoured Tactical Vehicle is one of a number of new Jordanian light vehicles which were displayed at SOFEX 2022, reports Bob Morrison.

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JODDB or Jordanian Design & Development Bureau, formerly KADDB or King Abdullah II Design & Development Bureau, is Jordan’s design authority for defence products, with its subsidiary JLVM or Jordan Light Vehicle Manufacturing being responsible for bringing its concepts into production.

The Al-Barq (Lightning) is, according to JODDB, a high mobility off-road armoured tactical vehicle designed for fast response, border patrol, reconnaissance and Special Operations. Based around a Can-Am BRP side-by-site ATV or All-Terrain Vehicle, which I suspect to be the Maverick X3 X RS Turbo RR, the Al-Barq offers demountable frontal and side light armour protection to B4 (NIJ 3A) level; i.e. it is rated against 9mm, .38 Special, .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum rounds.

Crewed by three, the 1750kg GVW armoured buggy is powered by an Austrian 900cc 3-cylinder ROTAX ACE Turbo RR engine developing 195hp through a QRS-X CVT transmission with High, Low and Reverse gearing. There are three doors and three racing-type seats plus a back rest for the top cover gunner, who has a shielded 7.62mm machine gun and stowage for 400 rounds.

Jordanian Special Operations have a long tradition of using 4×4 light strike vehicles to patrol remote desert areas ~ both neighbouring Syria to the north and Iraq to the north-east, with which it shares porous borders, have been strife-torn for many years ~ and the Al-Barq looks like it could not only be a suitable replacement for the Jordanian Chenowth ALSV fleet, which entered service in the early years of the 21st Century, but also give the crew a degree of ballistic protection not offered by the ALSV.

Jordanian SpecOps Chenowth ALSV during a JSOC live-fire display in the desert in 2006 [© Bob Morrison]
Several other makes of ATV buggies, including by Polaris and Arctic Cat, the latter seen here serving with LITHSOF in Poland in 2016, are used by the world’s SpecOps and Special Forces [© Bob Morrison]

¤ In my next brief article on JODDB vehicles I plan to look at the prototype Al-Hajras.

[images © Bob Morrison]

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