SVI Engineering builds armoured LandCruiser

WHILE we have the hugely capable, Thales-built Bushmaster armoured vehicle in Australia – currently seeing duty in the Ukraine – the South Africans have taken a different route to a new type of armoured vehicle.

Creating plenty of interest at a military hardware show in South Africa last week, an outfit called SVI Engineering pulled the covers off their tri-axle, six-wheel, Toyota LandCruiser 79 Series-based armoured ute complete with drone destroyer capability.

For reference, SVI Engineering was established in 2004 as an innovative mechanical engineering and rapid-product development firm with capabilities in product design, finite element analysis, development, product evaluation and manufacturing focusing on the armouring industry.

The company is certified to ISO 9001:2015 by TÜV Rheinland and has a Level 2 B-BBEE certification (a rating for black ownership of enterprises in South Africa).

Despite its age, Toyota’s LC79 is as popular as ever and is put to a myriad of uses but GoAuto has yet to see one converted to an armoured military vehicle at this level despite it featuring in various theatres of war.

This particular version really stands out, Arnie would no doubt love one, so would we.

The go-anywhere 79 lends itself well to military service due to robust construction and unquestioned reliability. They have been making them since 1984 and it’s refined to the “fully matured” stage of development. 

Unveiled at the Africa Aerospace and Defence Show (AAD2022) in South Africa, the MAX 3 Six-Wheeler is based on a J79 chassis.

As its name suggests there’s an extra axle at the back, with both rear axles widened to align front and rear tracks as the standard 79 Series rear track is considerably narrower than the front.

While modifying the axles, SVI threw on a set of disc brakes replacing the 79 Series’ standard drum system and offering better braking for the much heavier vehicle.

The extra axle was fitted to allow the MAX 3 six-wheeler a greater GVM as required by the weighty armour and weaponry contained within.

“Mad Max” as we have dubbed it at GoAuto, appears ready to go to war with sinister looks right up with the likes of the Bushmaster and anything Hummer.

The off-roader has a fully redesigned body made from armoured steel plate that can survive an attack with assault rifles and anti-personnel grenades.

As standard, it offers a protection level of EN1063 BR6 but can be optionally upgraded to BR7. SVI Engineering has added a new rear anti-roll bar and made tweaks to the suspension.

Power comes from the lazy but virtually indestructible 4.5-litre V8 turbo-diesel engine found in all late model LC79s that can propel a maximum gross vehicle mass of 5500kg.

Some of that weight is attributed to the drone interceptor system that consists of a radar to detect and identify the location of a hostile drone and a destroy system. This intel’ is sent to the battle management system which is hooked up to the automated grenade launcher and then we all know what happens after that.

Once the drone is taken down, it can be retrieved by using the off-road motorcycle mounted on the back of the truck.

While the concept unveiled at the AAD2022 is based on the double cab body style, SVI Engineering says it will also make a single cab variant and a wagon (Troop Carrier) variant.