The
Mastiff
A photographic tour by
John Harris
The attrition rate of the crews of ‘snatch’ Land Rovers on patrol in Southern Iraq has led to thee adoption of several new vehicles with improved protection and ‘Mastiff’ is one of these. It’s very unlikely that a manufacturer will produce a kit of ‘Mastiff’, but John Harris offers a photographic tour of this new PPV recently taken into British service.
The Mastiff is possibly the largest wheeled armoured vehicle ever introduced into service by the British Anny and is based on the 6×6 version of the Cougar Medium Mine-Proteded vehicle, built by ‘Force Protection’ in South Carolina. The official designation is Mastiff PPV {Protected Patrol Vehicle) and the first tranche of vehicles has recently completed a tour in Iraq and has been voted a success by the crews, although feedback from this initial deployment will be incorporated in later batches of vehicles.
The British ‘Mastiff’ incorporates around 50 modifications from the Cougar vehicles currently in service with the US Marines, the most notably being the ‘bar armour’ which comprehensively surrounds the vehicle standing off from the basic structure. Other alterations include Bowman radios and Electronic Counter–Measw-es and some additional armouring. 1he Mastiff weights some 27 tonnes (compared with 18 tonnes for the ‘Bulldog’ an upgraded FV432) and canies six soldiers plus a crew of two and is capable of 55mph, making it pethaps the ultimate ‘Oi.elsea Tractor’. The vehicle pictured was part of a display at the Royal Logistics Corps’ Open Day at Deepcut and represents the Mastiff as deployed in Iraq.
Above: Front nearside view
Top: Front offside (right) view, the exhaust system is very prominent
Top Right: Offside door and bar armour
Above Leff: Front wheel details. Note the large differential on the front axle
Above Right: Close-up of front bar-armour, the circular object at lower right is a night driving light.
Above: Offside Front view
ABOVE:
Front offside, the air cleaner is mounted alongside the bonnet. The windscreen is protected by heavy glass and there are two wire-cutters mounted to protect the gunner in the upper turret, though there is no gun mounted Ofl this example.
ABOVE RIGHT
Front offside, the two boxes mounted within the front bar amour are fitted to all vehicles deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT: Nearside door bar armour.
ABOVE LEFT.
Side view of bar amour, the rear view mirrors (folded) are mounted on the bar amour.
ABOVE RIGHT: Rear nearside view of bar armour.
ABOVE LEFT:
Rear offside view, the very big silencer is mounted high on the rear. Mounted below it, on the bar amour, are two boxes which contain a camera and what looks like some sort of sensor.
ABOVE RIGHT: Rear nearside (left) view; the two people at the rear are dressed in Second World War period uniforms.
ABOVE LEFT.
Detail of bar armour attachments
ABOVE RIGHT:
Rear steps for easy access to the rear doors.
ABOVE
Interior views; this looks lost compared with the overall exterior dimensions of the vehicle- the apposite of Dr Who’s TARDIS!
ABOVE:
The offside front wheel; only the tops of the tyres are protected by bar armour.
ABOVE:
Offside front bar armour, the indicator repeater is mounted on the bar armour.
ABOVE:
Overall nearside view reveals a big, long vehicle
ABOVE:
Front view, the extra width is clear here. The precise function of the device fitted to the middle of the top of the bar armour in unknown, though I would imagine it’s a camera to cover the blind spot at the front of the vehicle.
ABOVE:
LEFT TOP pic: Close-up of the side camera/motion detector
CENTRE TOP pic: Close up of the front armour: the sections of which are bolted together
CENTRE pic: Close up front bar armour
RIGHT TOP: Close-up of gunner’s armoured shield
BOTTOM LEFT & RIGHT: Rear and front views: Note the size compared with the Vector in the foreground.
By kind permission of Doolittle Media. Originally published in Military Modelling
