Land: light but 'hot': special operations forces units historically operate at the 'light' end of the equipment spectrum and rely primarily upon stealth for their survivability. However, the employment of such forces in extended campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq has influenced the need for a higher level of protected mobility for certain missions than is offered by transportation derived from light utility vehicles.

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Land: light but 'hot': special operations forces units historically operate at the 'light' end of the equipment spectrum and rely primarily upon stealth for their survivability. However, the employment of such forces in extended campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq has influenced the need for a higher level of protected mobility for certain missions than is offered by transportation derived from light utility vehicles.

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Lightness, however, does not only apply to vehicles but also to a variety of equipment--weapons amongst other types. In a more recent development, lightweight and electrically powered drones (erroneously called unmanned vehicles) have been introduced to enable units to silently explore the regions that are beyond their line of sight when traditional aerial reconnaissance is not available. There is little doubt that, had such amenities been available to the French units that fell under the fire of Afghan rebels in mid-2008, these troops would have been able to avoid those encounters, or at least minimise their effects.

As far as vehicles are concerned, the word 'light' has become a relatively blurred notion, since the extra protection now required--particularly in view of the increased size and power of roadside and buried bombs they are exposed to--does not exactly qualify them as 'weight watchers'. A side effect of such vehicles is that required higher ground clearance combined with added armour weight has made them so top-heavy that several roll-over incidents have motivated commands to issue special driving warnings.

The Mraps

Two new classes of vehicles have recently been introduced for special forces ground mobility: the RG-31 Medium Mine Protected Vehicle and the RG-33 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle.

Under the joint-service Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (Mrap) programme the US Department of Defense Joint Requirements Oversight Committee authorised the purchase of 333 such vehicles, either General Dynamics Land Systems--Canada 4 x 4 RG-31 Mk 5Es or BAE Systems RG-33s, for the US Special Operations Command (Socom). General Dynamics Canada subcontracts production of the RG-31 to BAE Land Systems OMC of South Africa, the original designer of the vehicle, or to Demmer (Michigan), which established an RG-31 production line in 2007 to support government orders. The RG-31's all-welded armoured shell defeats small arms fire up to 5.56 x 45 mm with an optional protection level of up to 7.62 x 51 mm armour-piercing, while the V-shaped hull can withstand a double TM57 level mine explosion (14 kg of TNT) under any wheel and a single detonation (up to seven kilos) under the centre of the vehicle. Those vehicles are in...

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