TAMPA, Fla. — Ukrainian special operations forces (SOF) driving through combat zones in 4×4 all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) could soon get some more protection from the ever-present threat of overhead drones courtesy of a new ballistic protection kit designed for the nimble off-road vehicles.
Australian company Andvare VI Defence Industries said it has teamed with specialist vehicle manufacturer Polaris Government and Defense to deliver prototypes of the protection kit to Ukrainian SOF for an operational evaluation in theater, after the Ukrainian SOF requirement had been received through NATO partners in Bulgaria.
The solution, which comprises a series of lightweight armor inserts for the roof section of MRZR D2 and D4 vehicles — and soon to also be rolled out to the MRZR Alpha platform — provides as much as two square meters (22 square feet) of overhead protection, Andvare’s Director Justin Willis explained to Breaking Defense at the SOF Week expo on Thursday.
Unable to comment on numbers of kits destined to be deployed to Ukraine, Willis did assert this appliqué kit weighed less than competing solutions, thereby reducing any significant constraints on the total payload of the vehicle. He also said tiles, which feature a “ballistic core” designed to disperse blast, were half as thin as some competitors.
Willis added the kit also includes an armored “ceramic drape” which covers the back of the vehicle, also capable of protecting operators from loitering munitions and other one-way effects travelling at speeds of around 200kph.
The conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the effectiveness — and lethality — of small, first-person-view drones that can hunt down individual soldiers or vehicles. The US military, like others around the world, are racing to both learn to operate the drones offensively and to defend against them.
UK, US SOF Explore New 4×4
Meanwhile, US and UK special operations forces appear to be in the market for a new 4×4 combat vehicle, according to a solicitation posted online in January. Project Willful, listed on the special operations-oriented Vulcan solicitation database in January is a “long-term” UK effort to “demonstrate novel technologies on a light, high-mobility 4×4 specialist vehicle platform,” according to the tender posted publicly by BW&CO consulting.
Technology areas of interest included in Project Willful include alternative powertrains, “silent approach” and increased exportable power for sub-systems; increased payload, powered trailers and uncrewed ground vehicles; hard and soft kill C-UAS; signature management; modular protection and soft kill defensive aids suite; and low profile/lightweight remote weapon station.
Since the posting, little information has been made publicly available about the program, which has a submission deadline of January 2027.
“We can’t really say a lot as nobody seems to know that much about this program, yet. But we are tracking it,” one industry source here said.
