The British 4×4 Wheeled Shorland APC

The British 4×4 Wheeled Shorland APC

The British 4×4 Wheeled Shorland APC (Armoured Patrol Car) was developed for the Northern Irelands Royal Ulster Constabulary and entered production with Irish Firm Short Brothers. Over a 1000 vehicles were built and also exported. It is no longer in service with the RUC.

The vehicle was a hybrid of a Land Rover chassis, an armoured body proofed against Machine Gun fire and the Machine Gun turret used on the Mk 2 Ferret armoured car. The vehicle was upgraded a number of times during its manufacturing run:

Mk 1 – 67 bhp (50 kW) engine
Mk 2 – Based on the Land Rover Series 2 chassis, 77bhp engine
Mk 3 – Introduced in 1972, 91bhp engine, Thicker armour than Mk 1, Mk 2
Mk 4 – 3.5 litre Rover V8 petrol engine, Improved armour over Mk 3

The British 4×4 Wheeled Shorland APC Mk 5 aka SB 501, aka Shorland S 55

Mk5 – Based on the Defender 110 chassis with a 3.5 litre Rover V8 petrol engine or 2.5 litre Rover Tdi Turbo diesel engine and Welded armour fully enclosed body.  It has no turret but a roof hatch which a 7.62mm MG can be mounted. aka SB 501, aka Shorland S 55, production started in 1980.

The British 4×4 Wheeled Shorland APC Specifications

Weight 3.36m
Length 4.60m
Width 1.78m
Height 2.29m
Crew 3
Main armament 7.62mm NATO machine gun
Operational range 260/510km
Top Road Speed 88km/h

Current and former Operators

Argentina, Bahrain, Botswana, Burundi, Cyprus, Guyana, Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Netherlands, Pakistan (Sindh Police), Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Syria, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Iraq.

Short Brothers sold the manufacturing and marketing rights to Australian Firm Tenix Defence Systems for the series.