In the same way that the British Army purchased the Series II when the Series 1 went out of production and then moved to the Series III when the Series II was no longer available, so it was natural that purchases made after the introduction of the Ninety and One Ten would specify the new models.
Similarly, overseas customers started purchasing the new models as soon as the Series 111 went out of production. Although some military users, notably the Irish Defence Force and occasionally the RAF, preferred to buy civilian machines, special military demonstrators for the One Ten were developed during 1983. A Middle Eastern customer, who ordered 900 vehicles in lune 1984, made the first significant purchases, and productionof the military One Ten began in 1985. Special military variants of the One Ten were also built by Otakar in Turkey, and by JRA in Sydney for the Australian Army from 1987, the latter being powered by Isuzu diesel engines.
Military versions of the Ninety appeared in 1986 but, in both cases, Land Rover continued to lose ground to Mercedes-Benz whose Steyr-built ‘G-Wagen’ was becoming increasingly popular with various European armies.
Land Rover hit back by marketing the new Ninety and One Ten vehicles directly at the defence sectors. Although special military brochures had been designed for the ‘lightweight’ and the'IOT, for the first time, the company produced dedicated sales material for the standard vehicles, intended to appeal to military procurement personnel. It is interesting to note that the military customer was not expected to cope with the trendy‘Ninety’or‘One Ten’ names, and the vehicles were referred to simply as the‘90’and the‘110’and then, after the
Right: Hardtop Defender 90 FFR, with deep-water snorkel. (ST)
Defender name was adopted in 1990, as the Defender 90 and Defender 110.
Soon after the introduction of the Defender name, Land Rover started to refer to the military offering as the ‘core military Defender’, presenting the range as a family of related vehicles with a range of options from which customers could choose to effectively customise vehicles to suit the anticipated role. Much was made of the commonality of parts across the range and the logistic benefits which this could bring, as well as the reduced need for the training of driving and maintenance staff.
In theory, military customers could choose from the same range of engine options as the civilians but, in practice, few vehicles were sold with the 2.25-litre petrol engine, most customers opting for the V8 petrol engine or the 2.25-litre diesel. When the new turbo-diesel 250 Tdi engine was introduced in 1986, this was also added to the military line-up and, although it proved a popular option overseas, none was specified for British Army service... even though the British Army had begun the switch to diesel-powered Land Rovers at around this time. The Irish Defence Force was less conservative and when the 250 Tdi appeared, a number of existing petrol-engined 110s were converted to diesel power in the IDF’s own workshops using kits supplied from Solihull, but the conversion was unsuccessful largely because the original gearboxes were retained, with the ratios proving unsuitable for the slower-reving diesels.
Available body styles were listed in the brochures, including hardtop, soft-top, station wagon, and pick-up; stripped-down patrol (DPV) and special operations vehicles (SOV) were also available. The list of variants for the 110 also included an armoured body using a composite glass-fibre/phenolic armour material manufactured by Courtaulds, and the 130 was also offered with a crew cab, ambulance or box body, and was equally capable of accommodating shelter bodies such as might be required for electronics repair, field kitchen or mobile workshop roles. The 110 and 130 were also available in chassis-cab form and Land Rover prepared a special demonstrator vehicle mounting a 106mm recoilless anti-tank
Above: British Army Land Rover loaded with troops and kit during the first Gulf War. 1990-91. The vehicle is equipped with radios and a General Purpose machine gun {GPMG). (IWM)
Gun on the llOin (2.79m) chassis as a replacement for the similar vehicle on the discontinued ‘lightweight’ platform.
An FFR (fitted for radio) option was available for the hardtop and soft-top versions of the 110 which consisted of two 12V lOOAh batteries, radio table, two radio operators’ seats, antenna mountings on front wings and rear body, radio power terminal with ammeter, and a hand throttle to enable the engine to recharge the batteries whilst the vehicle was stationary.
Optional equipment, generally available across the range, included auxiliary fuel tanks, black-out lighting, infra-red reflective paint, towing equipment, air-conditioning, slings for helicopter-lifting, stowage for pioneer tools on the bonnet, lashing cleats in the rear body, jerrycan stowage lockers, side-hinged tailgate, choice of bonnet or tailgate spare wheel mounts, and towing equipment. All models were available with a choice of 12V or 24V electrical systems, using a commercial 65Ah or 120Ah 12V alternator, or suppressed single or twin 50Ah 24V alternator. There was also a range of tyre options available to suit different terrains, and once the Defender XD had been launched, the same heavy-duty wheel was also offered on the standard military Defender.
The payload range was said to cover 1,6551b (751kg) all the way up to 5,5101b (2,499kg), and the 110 was also available with heavy-duty suspension which upped the gross vehicle weight to 7,71601b (3500kg).
World History
