Next week the companies or consortia selected for the UK LMV programme are expected to present three variants including a Tactical Mobility Vehicle, writes Bob Morrison.
~
Since the cusp of the millennium the WMIK, or Weapons Mount Installation Kit, variants of the 1996 vintage Land Rover Defender Truck Utility Medium Higher Specification or TUM HS, have fulfilled the role of what for the future is presently being designated as the Tactical Mobility Vehicle for the British Army. The TUM HS WMIK fleet, including the later R-WMIK conversions, was not only used by all three services but it was operationally deployed in many theatres across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia where it gave a quarter century of sterling service; mostly, though not exclusively, with Paras, Royal Marines, RAF Regiment and Special Forces.
At time of writing I do not know precise details of which Tactical Mobility Vehicles all of the ‘Light Mobility Seven‘ will be presenting to UK MoD this week. However four contenders ~ Jaguar Land Rover DEFENDER Defence, GDLS-UK / Team Ranger, Team LionStrike and Rheinmetall Team Wolf / Shadow Wolf ~ displayed their wares at DVD 2026 held at Millbrook Proving Ground last month, a fifth ~ Babcock ~ gave BFBS exclusive access to the TMV they plan to submit and this Supacat conversion has recently been revealed online, but as far as I am aware Team Grenadier and Iturri have not yet exhibited their proposed WMIK replacements. If/when the last three contenders issue official TMV variant photos I will revise this page.
While not the most numerous of the nine new military utility vehicle variants UK MoD is potentially seeking, the new LMV TMV will have big boots to fill indeed.
~ ~ ~
Jaguar Land Rover’s DEFENDER Defence division have produced two specialist prototypes, a TMV and an M-TMV or Mono-Tactical Mobility Vehicle, on the L663 Model unibody-construction ‘New Defender’ produced in Slovakia since 2019 as a replacement for the ladder framed models produced in Solihull from 1948 through to 2016. The original TMV prototype basically uses an L663 body cut down to bonnet level with a tubular space frame upper hamper, but the M-TMV has a cutaway full ‘monocoque’ body to which a bolt-on tubular roll-cage with pulpit weapons mount has been added very much in the style of the original WMIK.
The consortium headed by GDLS-UK, the UK wing of General Dynamics Land Systems, which includes Ford as OEM and Ricardo and is sometimes tagged as Team Ranger, is offering a cut-down Ford Ranger Super Duty with a high capacity pick-up rear cargo tray and a tubular roll-cage with weapons mount ring. Ricardo partnered with Land Rover around 1997 to develop the RDV or Rapid Deployment Vehicle, which of course entered UK and Dutch service as the Wolf WMIK, out of the early 1990s R-SOV (US Rangers Special Operations Vehicle) and in-house pre-Wolf MRCV (Multi-Role Combat Vehicle) prototypes. To my eyes the vehicle displayed as GDLS-TMV1, along with its Ricardo sibling, displayed at DVD 2026 bear certain similarities to the 1980s SAS Land Rover One-Ten DPV or Desert Patrol Vehicle.
The Team LionStrike consortium, led by NP Aerospace with GM Defence as OEM plus British Aerospace, is offering the General Motors ISV-U or Infantry Strike Vehicle – Utility version as its TMV candidate. A privately developed pick-up version of the US Army Infantry Squad Vehicle with seating for up to five and a large capacity rear cargo tray plus a weapons mount ring, this version now also ordered in bulk by the US Army has a tubular space frame chassis and Chevrolet Silverado power train and running gear. At time of writing this appears to be the only OEM-manufactured TMV candidate designed from the outset to be a full production line military vehicle rather than a conversion of a civilian vehicle.
The Rheinmetall and Mercedes-Benz consortium, in official documentation either Team Wolf* or Team Shadow Wolf, is proposing the Caracal version of the Mercedes-Benz G-464 as its TMV candidate. Developed by Rheinmetall in partnership with Mercedes-Benz and Bavaria-based ACS Armoured Car Systems, the Caracal conversion uses a modular upper hamper with weapons mount ring assembled on a G-class chassis cab, with removable light armoured doors and windscreens. Ordered in bulk in 2023 for the German/Dutch DSK (Division Schnelle Kräfte or Rapid Forces Division) the vehicle is specifically configured for airborne and airmobile operations.
[© Bob Morrison]
[*Confusingly both Land Rover Ltd and the Bundeswehr referred to their very different 1990s vintage 4×4 military utility vehicles by the Wolf codename and Rheinmetall has continued this tradition with the latest G-class versions.]
The Babcock TMV variant of their GLV or General Logistics Vehicle, at time of writing only seen on a video clip shot at the MIRA Technology Park, is a stripped-down Toyota Land Cruiser 70-Series converted by Supacat. It, too, has a tubular roll-frame with presumably a weapons mount ring and the prototype seen in the video has seating for four with a small cargo area behind the rear seats. We have requested photos from Babcock and will update this page when they arrive.
Neither Iturri nor Team Grenadier have revealed their TMV proposals to JOINT-FORCES at time of original upload.
[All images © Bob Morrison]
~
Further reading:-
- The UK Light Mobility Seven ~ Breaking News UPDATED
- UK MoD LMV Programme Battle Field Ambulance
- UK LMV Programme Tactical Mobility Vehicles
