Pinzgauer in British Service ~ Part Four (6×6)

The first Pinzgauer batch ordered by UK MoD was 4×4 in configuration but from the end of the 1990s 6×6 Pinzgauer 718 models were procured, writes Bob Morrison.

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From late 1999 onwards a small batch of 6×6 ‘crash rescue’ ambulances, designated AMBULANCE TRAUMA MANAGEMENT EMERGENCY RESPONSE 2 STRETCHER 6X6 DIESEL STEYR DAIMLER PUCH, entered service on Royal Air Force and Royal Navy airfields to replace ageing Land Rover 127 ambulances. In 1996 around 800 of the 4-stretcher Land Rover Defender Battlefield Ambulance (BFA) codenamed Pulse 130 were ordered by the MoD for all three services, at the same time as the Wolf 90 and Wolf 110 purchase, but these were not configurable for aircrew recovery and treatment (in the event of an incident when landing or taking off) hence this procurement of more specialist trauma management vehicles built on the Pinzgauer 718 chassis.

In October 2000, four months after Pinzgauer production moved from Austria to the UK, I was invited to the Automotive Technik Ltd (ATL) factory in Guildford for a press launch at which a Trauma Management Emergency Response (TMER) Pinzgauer, Royal Navy registration 37RN35, was present. Prior to this we had visited the MoD Long Valley test track near Aldershot, where both 718M soft top and 718K hard top company demonstrators were being put through their paces as the company started promoting the higher payload 6×6 to MoD for various roles. A couple of years after this I was invited back to Long Valley by ATL where a 718M trials vehicle, without its canopy and carrying two simulated ammunition pallets, was being put through its paces prior to a contract being confirmed; another TMER Pinzgauer, this one in RAF markings, was also displayed at this company event.

As previously mentioned, although the 4×4 Pinzgauer 716 version gives the outward appearance of being a large vehicle it is actually pretty small; in length it sits between a Land Rover 90 and 110, and there is comparatively little difference in width and height. However when fitted with a third axle the loadbed length and payload both increase appreciably, plus from a fleet management perspective there is almost total commonality of spares. When the TUM and TUM [HD] requirement was issued in 1991 the plan was for the new vehicles to fit the same shipping and air freight envelope as the in-service long wheelbase Land Rover One-Ten / 110, but even although the 6×6 Pinzgauer was clearly ideal for the TUM [Heavy Duty] category it was ruled out as being too long. By the end of the decade the earlier dimensional envelope was no longer as relevant and UK MoD started considering the three-axle Pinzgauer, which had a GVW of 4950kg compared to 3850kg for the 4×4, for various specialist small batch roles.

By keeping an eye on published Freedom of Information requests I have been able to determine that there have been at least 27 different British Army Asset Codes issued for the Pinzgauer 6×6 TUM [HD] variants. Unfortunately 16 of these have been redacted on the Equipment Identity tables (from 2019) I have seen, which is unsurprising as some quite probably relate to specialist communications / intelligence / electronic warfare etc. roles. In addition to Trauma Management, other non-redacted Asset Codes variants include: High Velocity Missile VIK (Vehicle Installation Kit); FFR (Fitted For Radio) Ptarmigan, x3 versions; and Royal Artillery / Gun Tractor Vehicle, x3 versions. Other 6×6 versions most likely shown redacted on tables released under FOI but which have been openly displayed by MoD are the specialist to role SIBCRA and ASTOR versions.

The TRUCK UTILITY MEDIUM HEAVY DUTY FFR HARD TOP 6×6 SIBCRA STEYR DAIMLER PUCH (SIBCRA stands for Sampling and Identification of Biological, Chemical and Radiological Agents) is very similar in body shape to the TMER but, with the exception of a small laboratory behind the cab, the majority of the rear body space is devoted to equipment storage. I suspect that a sample gathering robot, similar to an EOD Wheelbarrow, may have been transported behind the double rear doors but I have never been able to confirm this. This variant, of which there were more than one as the British Army could deploy two identical SIBCRA units simultaneously in different theatres, entered service in mid-2002.

At around the same time as the SIBCRA variants entered service, BAE Systems announced that it had completed work on upgrading the Ptarmigan Secondary Access Node – Air Portable area and satellite communications access system. This programme “repackaged the conventional Ptarmigan Secondary Access Switch and Radio Relay sub-systems into separate air-portable variants, each mounted on Pinzgauer 6×6 wheeled vehicles which are deployed in pairs as the SAN(AP)”. I have not been able to find photos of this Ptarmigan variant in my archives, but suspect it might have a similar shelter-type body ~ TCB or Transportable Container Body in MoD-speak ~ to that used on the slightly later ASTOR variant (see below).

In/from 2004 another batch of six-wheelers entered service designated TRUCK UTILITY MEDIUM (HEAVY DUTY) 6×6 GS ST W/W EURO III WITH HVM VIK (HILLS). HVM is the abbreviation for High Velocity Missile, i.e. the Shorts / Thales Starstreak man-portable air defence system or MANPADS, and VIK stands for Vehicle Installation Kit, but I have not been able to determine what HILLS relates to. Two of these vehicles appeared individually at consecutive DVD (Defence Vehicle Dynamics) expos at Millbrook Proving Ground in 2004 and 2005; the first time with the canopy sides and rear access panel rolled up to display the internal fittings.

In 2007 some of these vehicles had the HVM VIK removed to allow them to be converted as TUM (HD) 6×6 FFR ST W/WINCH GUN TOWING VEHICLE 2007 SPECIFICATION. Both 3 Commando Brigade and 16 Air Assault Brigade use these conversions as gun tractors for the 105mm Light Gun instead of the original 4×4 TUM (HD), which in my opinion was never really up to the task of replacing the earlier FC101 or One Tonne Land Rover on a one-for-one basis.

Also in 2007, the RAF Sentinel R1 aircraft with ASTOR (Airborne STand-Off Radar) surveillance system entered full service with No.5 (Army Cooperation) Squadron, which on the ground used packets of three specialist 6×6 Pinzgauers crewed by Army and RAF personnel. One vehicle in each trio was a relatively conventional hard top 6×6 designated TRUCK UTILITY MEDIUM (HEAVY DUTY) 6×6 FFR HT WINTERISED W/WINCH EURO 3 ASTOR MISSION SUPPORT MODULE. The other pair were two-seat truck cab variants designated TRUCK UTILITY MEDIUM (HEAVY DUTY) 6×6 FFR TCB W/WINCH EURO 3 ASTOR WORK STATION MODULE or TRUCK UTILITY MEDIUM (HEAVY DUTY) 6×6 FFR TCB WINTERISED W/W EURO 3 ASTOR COMMS MODULE. This small fleet formally entered service in January 2008, but I was allowed to photograph a trio of ASTOR vehicles (probably on User Trials) under camo with No.5 (AC) Sqn at Waddington the previous June when the new Sentinel R1 aircraft was displayed to the media. During the PASHTUN DAGGER pre-deployment exercise on Salisbury Plain in 2011 I was permitted to snap a full ASTOR package, both on the move and static.

The original 1994 Pinzgauer 4×4 TUM (HD) batch is becoming increasingly rare in British Army service, which is unsurprising bearing in mind it has now seen double its expected 15 year service life, but many of the newer and higher capacity 6×6 versions are still serving well and not expected to be replaced before 2030. One British Army Pinzgauer 6×6 variant which has not stood the test of time, however, is the armoured VECTOR which was speedily procured for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. I plan to look at this vehicle in Part Five.

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Note: Usually, but not always, the designation of the 6×6 TRUCK UTILITY MEDIUM (Heavy Duty) is shown on British military registration ERM plates as TRUCK UTY MED (HD), either with or without brackets, but in captions I have further reduced this to TUM (HD) to save space. As is probably obvious ST and HT on ERM plates stands for SOFT TOP or HARD TOP, FFR is Fitted For Radio and GS is General Service, and W/W or W/WINCH means the vehicle is equipped with a self-recovery winch.

To be continued…..

[images © Bob Morrison unless noted]

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See also:-

• Pinzgauer in British Service ~ Part One
• Pinzgauer in British Service ~ Part Two
• Pinzgauer in British Service ~ Part Three
• Pinzgauer in British Service ~ Part Four

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