Babcock has brought together around 30 UK small and medium-sized enterprises at an engagement day in Dorset as it prepares its proposal to replace the British Army’s outgoing Land Rover fleet with a new generation of off-road vehicles based on Toyota platforms.
The Ministry of Defence recently announced it was retiring the Land Rover after 70 years of service as part of the upcoming Light Mobility Vehicle programme. In anticipation of the requirement, Babcock has developed the General Logistics Vehicle in strategic collaboration with Toyota, a family of vehicles based on the globally renowned Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux platforms, which will undergo military-specific modifications by Babcock teams in the West Midlands.
The engagement event, held at the Defence Battlelab in Dorset, brought suppliers together to discuss upcoming requirements for the vehicle platforms and outlined expectations for delivering what Babcock described as a sovereign solution that would be a cornerstone of military operations for years to come.
The day built on the recent launch of Babcock’s SME Engagement Charter, designed to foster a more accessible, fair and collaborative defence ecosystem.
Chris Spicer, Managing Director for Babcock’s Engineering and Systems Integration business, said the Army’s Land Rover had “earned its retirement” and that with the General Logistics Vehicle, Babcock was “building on its legacy with a product which will provide soldiers with a tough, reliable and practical platform to support a wide range of mission-critical tasks.” He added that by working with UK SMEs, the company was “creating and sustaining high quality jobs within our supply chain and contributing to the UK’s defence dividend.”
The General Logistics Vehicle family is centred on a network of UK SMEs supplying specialist components, with Babcock describing their role as vital to making the family of vehicles a compelling product for the Light Mobility Vehicle competition.
Well according to Top Gear the L200 will last far longer than Ajax
“military-specific modifications” …
Here we go😒 Let’s not go crazy!
A bit of armour, a drone jammer
Looks like they have been taking notes from the Ukrainians( and others) with the use of the Toyota Hilux and similar types!
Very popular with the fundraisers!
Used for many roles
I do hope we get some progress and a decision made quickly
LMV shouldn’t have armour, it’s a cheap rear echelon run about.
the rear echelon is still at risk of IEDs and drone strikes
Armour is not cost neutral, the rear Echelon always has been at risk, but the risk is massively decreased compared to the forward Echelons. Armouring everything in the rear Echelon decreases combat effectiveness at the front as the maintenance and fuel burdens are raised, reducing logistic through put.
Add in that IED’s and Drones are very different threats that require very different approaches and you have a bit of a nightmare on your hands.
If Toyota are smart, and I’m sure they are, they’ll produce a standard spec. lookalike version to sell on the UK market. They can take advantage of the free advertising the bid will produce.
I support this idea; there are no stronger vehicles than Toyota pickups. Even when their bodies are torn apart like the Defender, they just keep going. Ask many African countries that depend on these vehicles. The Toyota product is a very sound baseline as a Land Rover replacement.
Arguably an excellent vehicle, and potentially decent value for money, but I feel like describing something largely manufacturered overseas and subject to foreign export controls as a “sovereign solution” is a bit of an overreach by Babcock. Pretending that it is really ‘British’ sort of undermines what could otherwise be a decent bid. It’s not a sovereign design in the same way that the original Land Rovers were, but neither is anything else in the running. We need to be ok that anything selected for the role is going to have a high degree of overseas input. The key is making sure it’s the right foreign input. I think that Babcock emphasising the Japanese as a partner and ally would be more honest and encouraging than slapping a Union Jack on the side and acting like they’ve invented the Land Cruiser.
My ex Army Land Rover is still going strong, 46 years after the British Army, caste it from their transport fleet. It’s only defect at the time was it ran on Petrol not Diesel
The Army Land Rovers are absolute dogs to drive. Vile vehicle.
Military grade anything should not mean stripped down version of off the shelf vehicles, it should be a grade above.
Everything that is standard issue “military grade” in the uk is worse than if they just brought off the shelf. And, historically, we pay more for it too.
A Land Rover will get you there,A Land Cruiser will get you back!
I remember years ago when everyone was raving about the Land Cruiser, I remember one user in Africa commenting that they were OK but just had faster crashes than Land Rovers and were more difficult to repair.
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Landcruiser is a way better platform than Land Rover, and always has been. Every Land Rover i ever saw on exercise seemed to break down constantly, and that was 20 years ago. Lets hope this could be a simple win for the Army, even they shouln’t be able to balls this programme up.
The only reason you saw constant land rover breakdowns, was because idiots in the infinite wisdom decided to fix something that wasn’t broken. Anything built after the series 3 land over ie: the wolf/defender had so called improvements which broke. Series 3 and before only had 3 glass fuses. Change the points and plugs every 3 years and they soldiered on. Changing to electronic ignition, adding more pointless gismo’s meant more breakdowns. If it ain’t broke, don’t play with it.
The Battle lab building had some interesting models in glass cabinets and is modern and slick, if not a bit soul less and corporate.
It also has one gender neutral toilet facility that I found a bit unnerving. Must be the modern MOD and it’s cutting edge priorities.
It must cost a fair bit to build and run considering there are numerous MOD facilities just down the road.
The only reason you saw constant land rover breakdowns, was because idiots in the infinite wisdom decided to fix something that wasn’t broken. Anything built after the series 3 land over ie: the wolf/defender had so called improvements which broke. Series 3 and before only had 3 glass fuses. Change the points and plugs every 3 years and they soldiered on. Changing to electronic ignition, adding more pointless gismo’s meant more breakdowns. If it ain’t broke, don’t play with it.
Current range of Toyota 4×4 are shocking for build quality. Everyone looks to the “top gear” Hilux, but that was an early model, akin to the Bedford 4t in complexity.
In recent years I have had both HiLux and LandCruisers as company vehicles. Off road ability is pretty poor, and temperamental electronics. As for build quality, they are not suitable for squaddies. Brand new Hilux – wiring loom crossed over the keyhole to access the spare wheel, just waiting for the shepherd crook to rip out, wheel rim design held mud in them that was almost impossible to clean out so threw balance out and in a 200 mile journey, the engine mounts worked loose!
New Land Cruiser, noted headlights were poor, tried height adjuster – not working. Found the connecting cable still taped up behind the dashboard! Bonnet release cable was connected to the fuel flap and fuel flap release to the bonnet! And of course such a large vehicle from the outside, but tiny inside, I am 6ft, but getting into the driver seat was a challenge due to the dash trims and pedal positions, also hard to drive in boots.
I would expect the Ineos Grenadier to be a serious contender.
I’ve had the use of one – on and off – for the past 18 months and it is built like the proverbial brick shit house!
Virtually squaddie proof.
Too expensive and not built in the UK.
..but apart from that…
The MOD procurement process would be buying several 100 (at least) so they wouldn’t be paying the showroom sticker price.
I didn’t realise that the Hilux is built in the UK
They should use the imv o platform as their base as it’s basic and with drone weapons becoming the norm you do not want to spend to much for a basic vehicle also they come cab and chassis so easy to add custom bodies for different tasks and you can then make them interchangeable from troop carrying to mortor to simple command centre
Expletive expletive ff sake here we go again. Gold plated land rover replacements. It’s totally pathetic, allmost to the point where I just want to puke!
We have fa tanks.
Ajax is an absolute pile of shite!
Boxer will be available en-mass… when hell freezes over!
We need Frigate’s, Destroyers, 1,000’s more drones, and some utter clown possibly ex-forces, has persuaded a moronic government operative that ‘shiny sparkly’ is nice, and the arabs love toyota.
The main reason Landrovers lasted so long… they were fantastic vehicles in the main, and a damn site cheaper that a ‘military grade’ Toyota Hilux!
Absolutely unba******gleavable!
It certainly looks the business and I agree there will be a healthy civilian market if it is adopted by the British military. Just keep it simple and don’t turn it into some kind of high tech fighting vehicle. Speak to the guys and girls driving land rovers today and find out what they use them for. Half the time they are just taking a load boxes from one side of the barracks to the other so they do not need anti drone digital imaging AI interfaces and multi layer high tech armour with machine gun mounts and death rays and a unit cost of £200,000+. It’s a bloody “Land Rover” for Gods sake.
How much is MoD paying Babcock to do stuff that was always done in-house without difficulty? Gathering together some SMEs for an Industry Day. Why pay a middle man to organise this?
Cynically speaking, money to the MIC!
HMGs priority.
Seriously speaking, I agree.
Babcock investment, not MOD. Ultimately if wise with the investment they will be in a good position. BC have already trailed the long wheelbase with a mounted mortar kit that straps on its arse end and can carry crew and ammo. Shoot and scoot mode. Quite a lot of work has been done with regards to types etc for a fleet of LV.
Translation: Britain can longer make anything.