Northern Ireland Land Rovers in Patriot Games Movie

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

I was watching the Patriot Games Movie with Harrison Ford as Agent Jack Ryan over the weekend on TV. In the movie they showed a couple of scenes with what looked like an armoured Land Rover at a road block in Northern Ireland.

I am wondering what years of production and Series of Land Rover were these Armoured Land Rovers in use. Were they just called "armoured Land Rovers" or did they have a special military identity?

What sort of modifications were done to them apart from armour being put on?

Kind Regards
Lionel

[Mr Rover]

They where called "Snatch Wagons" and they also saw service in Iraq and Afghanistan. I do not know much about them myself, but you can read more at:

Snatch Land Rover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope this helps. :cool:

[Lionelgee]

They where called "Snatch Wagons" and they also saw service in Iraq and Afghanistan. I do not know much about them myself, but you can read more at:

Snatch Land Rover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snatch_Land_Rover)

Hope this helps. :cool:


G'day Mr Rover,

From the Wikipedia site I think there must have been earlier versions of the Snatch Land Rover. The site says the "snatch was developed in 1992. The book Patriot Games was published in 1987. The short glimpse of the scene looked like a Series 2A or maybe a Series 3 not a Defender which the Snatch Land Rover is.

It looked something like this Series 3 Accessed 30th December 2013 from http://www.mfhf.se/galleri/albums/userpics/10001/lrovpig1.jpg

Kind Regards
Lionel

[Newy]

British Army Land Rover Piglet in Northern Ireland (Model) (http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?17621-British-Army-Land-Rover-Piglet-in-Northern-Ireland-(Model))

I think your referring the the land rover piglet, a series 3 based vechile used in Northern Ireland. Info is sketchy but, heres a link that might help answer some questions.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Its been a long while since I've seen the movie, but are you talking talking about the Shorland armoured Land Rover? They even had the turret off a Saracen.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/12/14.jpg

There were various marks from Series through Defender

The other option is the slab sided "Hotspur" Land Rover's used by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Some were complete armoured builds and others a kit attached to a standard 109/110 Land Rover also built by the same company, the nickname comes from the use of the Hotspur armour plating from Wales. Often the kits started on Series Land Rovers and ended up being refitted to Defenders.

[Gibby]

Hi Lionel, I was in service with the British Army 79 - 90s , active service in NI during this period. The land rovers your asking about were series 2a & 3, google makrolon army land rovers, check out google images too. Short wheel base vehicles were used as snatch wagons , they would be deployed rapidly with a two man snatch squad in the back, to weed out instigators in the riot situation.
all the best, hope this helps
Gibby

[Lionelgee]

Its been a long while since I've seen the movie, but are you talking talking about the Shorland armoured Land Rover? They even had the turret off a Saracen.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/12/14.jpg

There were various marks from Series through Defender

The other option is the slab sided "Hotspur" Land Rover's used by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Some were complete armoured builds and others a kit attached to a standard 109/110 Land Rover also built by the same company, the nickname comes from the use of the Hotspur armour plating from Wales. Often the kits started on Series Land Rovers and ended up being refitted to Defenders.

Hello Lotz-A-Landies,

I did some research last night and I did see these Shorland vehicles and the one I saw on Patriot Games was more like the Piglet or RUC types. There were two Land Rovers one armoured and the other a standard soft top - one vehicle either side of the road.

I wonder if there are any Shorland's in Australia?

Kind Regards
Lionel

[Lionelgee]

Hi Lionel, I was in service with the British Army 79 - 90s , active service in NI during this period. The land rovers your asking about were series 2a & 3, google makrolon army land rovers, check out google images too. Short wheel base vehicles were used as snatch wagons , they would be deployed rapidly with a two man snatch squad in the back, to weed out instigators in the riot situation.
all the best, hope this helps
Gibby


Hello Gibby,

Yes I say it was the 2A version of a makrolon. Thank you for the identification. I wondered what the term "snatch" referred to.

Kind Regards
Lionel

[Reads90]

Interesting fact was they all have front and rear Salisbury axels and not just rear.

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

I was doing some more surfing and found this Series III based light armoured version South African Kudu APC. It sort of stretches the definition of a Land Rover a lot and goes into the realm of really ugly too. Photographs accessed 31st December 2013 from, Armoured (http://www.lr-mad.co.uk/nl/armoured)

Kind Regards
Lionel

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Hello Lotz-A-Landies,

I did some research last night and I did see these Shorland vehicles and the one I saw on Patriot Games was more like the Piglet or RUC types. There were two Land Rovers one armoured and the other a standard soft top - one vehicle either side of the road.

I wonder if there are any Shorland's in Australia?

Kind Regards
LionelI know where a pair of Shorland Defender axle asseblies are but not a whole vehicle. I want the front axle because its Salisbury. ;)