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Background – Special Forces Vehicles
– CANSOFCOM SOV Update |
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Update: Media articles
suggest that Supacat's Jackal is all but a shoe-in (probably true from the outset of SOV ). But at least two
bidders are still involved at this stage. AM General has now pulled out of the SOV contest eliminating their GMV
'Dumvee' family from the running.
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Supacat Jackals or 'Dumvees'? – New Special Operations Vehicles for
CANSOFCOM
According to David Pugliese – who has written extensively on
Canadian special forces – the
competition for new Special Operations Vehicles has been narrowed to two unnamed candidates. A G-Wagen
based SOV has either been eliminated or was never in the running. That leaves an updated Humvee, the GMV-S
'Dumvee', or the British Supacat
Jackal MWMIK.
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Proven service is one demand of the Special Operations Vehicle SOIQ. The Supacat Jackal is in service with British Army
Pathfinders in Afghanistan (right). The US Humvee has long been used by special forces, the latest
version being the Ground Mobility Vehicle - S. [1] The GMV was dubbed 'Dumvee' to distinguish the new
model Humvee from older variants – such as the special forces M1113/M1117 HMMWVs now in use with both
JTF-2 and CSOR.
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GMV-S 'Dumvee' – Ground Mobility Vehicle - SOF
The Ground Mobility Vehicle is the latest version of Humvee. Like most special forces vehicles, the 'SOF'
GMV is open-topped with a weapons ring built into the tubular turn-over cage. As with the Rheinmetall Wolf, the passenger-side windshield
pane is omitted, allowing a forward-firing gun. Other swing-out guns can mount to the sides. An earlier, more
Jackal-like Humvee derivative (left) was trialed [2] so there's no reason that a CF GMV-S
couldn't follow that layout.
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The SOIQ seemed to point to the Jackal but the demands of such documents tend to be ignored
when inconvenient. A possible hint lies in an NPP for CANSOFCOM forklifts. As it happens, these "RT" forklifts are just what would be required
to install and dismount an Extenda module. This forklift request may be coincidence but its timing is most
interesting.
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[1] GMV-S is for 'Special Operations Forces'. Other special ops 'Dumvee' variants are GMV-R (for Rangers) and
GMV-N (for Navy SEALS).
[2] The Alvis Shadow was based on the earlier M1113 ECV (Extended Capability Vehicle)
Humvee. Other than easier access and egress, the stripped-down layout of the Shadow allowed two
of these recce vehicles to be carried inside a Chinook. Shadow was not a success.
[3] The first generation Humvees had General Motors Duramax diesels. The GMV-S uses AM General's
6.5L 190 hp Optimizer 6500 diesel.
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Having already determined that Jackal has little commonality with any in-service CF vehicle, we must examine
the Humvee. Since the Humvee is already in CANSOFCOM service, there is built-in commonality.
But the GMV-S has a different engine
used by no in-service CF vehicle. [3] The requirement for logistics, ambulance, and other
specialty vehicles is easier to satisfy since a wide range of Humvee shelters will mount on to GMV-S
'Dumvees'. How mobile they would then be is another matter.
By contrast, the Jackal is based on Supacat's HMT 400 all-terrain load carrier. Using the HMT 400 or the
related HMT 600 would solve the specialty vehicle requirement as would adapting the Jackal itself. That is
made simple
by Supacat's Extenda add-on module which converts the Jackal (or HMT ) from 4x4 to 6x6 in
less than two hours. Commonality scores few points – the Cummins 6BT diesel is not in CF
use.