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Received at 4wd.sofcom.com/4WD.html by email, 11/1999:
Two types
of armoured vehicles are currently available
to Police and Security Forces:
1. Up-armoured production vehicles such as Landcruiser,
Suburban, G-Wagen and Land-Rover
which offer poor performance, braking and reliability due
to the weight of the armour.
2. Purpose built Military vehicles, which are expensive to run,
require substantial back-up packages and are aggressive in appearance.
The Aigis family of vehicles was designed to overcome the problems identified above and offer a new generation of highly protected, discrete armoured vehicles. Jankel Armouring have secured orders for variants of Aigis from the UK Ministry Of Defence for service in the British Army for use in support of current peacekeeping operations and other requirements.
Aigis has the following key advantages over existing armoured
4x4 vehicles:
High levels of ballistic protection: Aigis has been
designed and engineered from conception to
protect upto 7.62x51 AP.
High levels of bomb blast protection:
Aigis has a monocoque construction which is extremely
resilient against side blast (30kg of Semtex at 6 metres) and roll over.
Blast floor: Aigis is fitted with a V shaped blast floor
under the driveline in order to provide
excellent protection against anti-personnel mines and hand grenades.
This system also increases the protection and survivability against
anti-vehicle mines, when additional internal safety equipment is utilised.
Fully armoured engine bay: Aigis has an engine bay which
is fully armoured from 360° and
designed for ease of daily maintenance and servicing.
Vehicle reliability: Aigis is based upon commercial off
the shelf heavy duty General Motors
mechanicals with a GVW rating of 5454kg which have
an excellent reliability record which gives
Aigis a long service life and low life cycle costs.
Payload: Approx. 1000kg depending on specification
which does not exceed GVW rating of base mechanicals.
Ease of maintenance: Aigis is fully serviceable at any
General Motors service centre with all key
service items being available off the shelf.
The under body armour is easily removable for servicing.
Discrete appearance: The armoured monocoque of Aigis is
given a discrete appearance by use of
moulded composite cosmetic panels to the wings, roof, bonnet etc.
Ease of use: Aigis offers key advantages to driver and
crew with excellent visibility due to large
glass areas and retention of GM systems such
as air-conditioning, heating and dashboard.
Automotive aspects: The excellent General Motors base
mechanicals provide Aigis with handling
and performance characteristics similar to a non-armoured vehicle.
Derivatives: The simple design and construction method of
Aigis allows it to be easily configured
to many specialist roles including bomb disposal, cash in transit,
urban reconnaissance, peacekeeping, VIP protection, public order intervention,
weapons platform, information gathering and tactical intervention
vehicle.
Aigis was conceived, designed, engineered as a purpose built armoured 4x4 which could offer the very highest levels of ballistic and bomb blast protection which it's civilian up-armoured 4x4 counterparts could not offer as their mechanicals had not been designed to handle the weight of armouring.
Heavy duty General Motors K Series chassis
with 5454kg GVW, payload between 500kg and 950kg
subject to ballistic specification.
7.4 litre V8 petrol or 6.5 litre V8 turbo diesel options.
Power steering, air-conditioning, anti-lock brakes and
low track and centre of gravity ensure good
handling and comfortable driving.
Simple over engineered mechanicals can be serviced or
replaced very easily a very long service life
is ensured as components not over stressed.
Up-armouring a luxury civilian vehicle always compromises the vehicles performance, handling, braking and reliability as GVW is exceeded before any passengers or equipment are in the vehicle. No civilian 4x4 can be realistically armoured to armour piercing standard. Because of Aigis' wide track, large GVW and engine an AP protected vehicle is stable, handles well and can take a full complement of passengers and luggage and still not exceed GVW.
7.62x51 armour piercing protection as standard,
B6 7.62x51 NATO ball as an option.
Passenger compartment forms a blast cage and
is fabricated from corrosion protected ballistic steel.
Unique fully armoured engine bay (front, sides, bottom and top)
Entire vehicle has blast floor offering mine / hand grenade protection.
Substantial overlaps around all door apertures and glassed areas.
Polycarbonate lined ballistic glass installed into large window
apertures for wide field of vision.
Windows are designed for quick replacement and are fixed
as standard with opening front quarter light.
The Aigis looks to the untrained observer like a large off roader and does not draw any undue attention, with internal flexibility to create any seating configuration required Aigis is the most versatile VIP luxury armoured 4x4 available that offers unrivalled levels of ballistic protection.
VIP Leather trimmed seats and Wilton carpets can be fitted.
Comprehensive entertainment and communication systems can
be installed along with a whole variety
of other defensive equipment.
VIP version of Aigis can carry 5 people in total comfort
With a low cost method of construction, Aigis costs less than most conventional luxury civilian 4x4 vehicles and their respective armouring solutions, while not suffering from the problems that up-armouring of these civilian chassis creates.
Go to the
Jankel
and
military vehicle
pages -
4wd.sofcom.com/4WD.html
