Armored Cars: Osprea Mamba Mk. 7

Via Osprea Logistics.

The Mamba Mk. 7 is the newest incarnation of a prestigious mine-resistant 4×4 lineage from South Africa. Developed from the late 1980s and early 1990s as an intermediary wheeled transport, after a long gestation the Mamba Mk. 3 was finally standardized by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

The same model was soon spun off into an export variant by the defense contractor Denel called the RG31 that’s now recognized as a different vehicle. As the license for building the Mamba was passed among a handful of companies it still enjoyed persistent demand and established itself as the archetype from which most current MRAPs are patterned after.

Via Osprea Logistics.

As the crucial link between the original mine-resistant trucks–the odd Buffel and the enormous Casspir that proved themselves in South Africa’s bush wars–the Mamba innovated many permanent features now used on current armored trucks. For example, its monocoque v-hull, assembled from two shaped panels of cut steel, gives it a distinctive high ground clearance that partially exposes its chassis. Just like so many other MRAPs.

The Mamba Mk. 7 in particular is recognizable for the two square bullet-resistant windows that form its windshield. Lacking doors, the Mamba’s hull is reinforced with stowage bins that act as blow out panels when powerful explosions erupt from underneath the vehicle.

Via Osprea Logistics.

Unlike earlier Mamba’s, the 15 ton Mk. 7 runs on a larger Deutz turbo diesel engine producing 203 horsepower and a top speed of 105 kilometers per hour. Its popular sibling the Mk. 5, on the other hand, has an Iveco engine. Many details about the Mamba Mk. 7 ‘s performance characteristics aren’t too out of the ordinary for MRAPs. Its armor protection level reaches STANAG III and it can wade across nearly four feet of water.

As a combat vehicle, the Mamba Mk. 7 carries a total of 11 passengers who enter by climbing from the back. These include the driver and co-driver and nine dismounts who ride on blast protected seats. The roof hatch accommodates a single gunner for the turret although up to four weapons can be mounted on top of the vehicle with seven firing ports installed on the windows and the rear swing door. Alternate weapon systems include a light mortar and large caliber autocannons.

It might not be the most popular MRAP today but the Mamba’s descendants have fought and died in Africa’s deadliest war zones–like Somalia.

As a bespoke military truck the Mamba Mk. 7 can be assembled as an ambulance, a mobile command center, an explosive ordnance disposal vehicle, an IED detector, a recovery vehicle, and a troop carrier.

Osprea Logistics is a British truck manufacturer that maintains facilities in South Africa and the US. The firm specializes in finding new markets for some of the Apartheid era’s iconic war machines, including the Casspir and the Ratel 20 fighting vehicle.

Outside South Africa the Mamba is in use with at least a dozen militaries, this includes the Pan-African peacekeeping force who are deployed to Somalia. If the client wishes Osprea may transfer knockdown kits or an entire production line to a factory for localized assembling.

This African Union Mamba Mk. 5 has two Type 77 heavy machine guns on its roof.

As wheeled armored vehicle production has spread across Asia and Europe the Mamba Mk. 7 risks being smothered by its own imitators, whose offerings are equally robust and hard hitting. But strong demand in the African continent and ballooning counter-terrorism budgets may still leave it with bright prospects for years to come.