Armored Cars: Milkor 4×4

Via Milkor SA.

The newest mine-resistant truck to come out of South Africa is from the same company behind the world’s most successful multi-shot grenade launcher. In recent years Milkor established a handful of verticals for air, land, and maritime products. The “Milkor 4×4” is the company’s first attempt at assembling a bespoke vehicle for international customers.

The Milkor 4×4 is immediately recognizable for its monocoque hull bereft of side doors. To enter the vehicle, crew and passengers climb a hydraulic ramp at the back that comes with folding steps. The cab offers seating for the driver and co-driver and there’s room enough for eight dismounts behind them.

Via Milkor SA.

The origin story of this truck is par for the course among today’s wheeled military vehicles. Rather than design a troop carrier from scratch, a commercial chassis was selected and an entire hull or shell was built on top of it. The Milkor 4×4 entered production in 2018 and is now being shown around various arms shows to attract customers. Its appeal is the guarantee of robust protection in a bespoke product that isn’t as vulnerable as a Toyota Hilux in a war zone.

According to Milkor, its armored truck has B7 protection, making it resistant against gunfire from battle rifles and light machine guns. Either side of the hull have stowage bins that act as blast or blow up panels for deflecting the shock waves caused by explosions. Milkor can even install grills on the truck’s windows to deflect large projectiles. A novel feature on the Milkor 4×4 are a row of lamps above the monobloc windshield for extra illumination in the dark.

Via Milkor SA.

The Milkor 4×4’s gross weight totals 15 tons fully loaded although it’s able to deploy at just nine tons light. The preferred engine type is left to the end user’s specifications, although Milkor used an Iveco turbo diesel when putting the truck through its paces. Top speed is a decent 110 kilometers per hour and maximum range is 1,000 km on a full tank. The Milkor 4×4 isn’t amphibious and is meant for navigating outdoor terrain but its height allows it to easily cross small bodies of water.

The combat optimization of the Milkor 4×4 is still very basic, with a remote weapon station on the roof as its standard armament complemented by two rows of smoke grenade dischargers. If the end user wishes, a manual turret over the circular roof hatch is available too. The vehicle’s size makes it possible to install additional large caliber weapons. While there aren’t any firing ports on the hull, soldiers can pop open the small hydraulic hatches above their seats to either observe their surroundings or squeeze out a few bullets.

Via Milkor SA.

There are a handful of MRAPs in southern Africa competing in the same niche as the Milkor 4×4. But savvy marketing and a willingness to share assembly and maintenance with end users can aid its widespread adoption. Milkor does offer to tailor its mine-resistant truck for ancillary and law enforcement roles.