Mercedes Benz showcase new armoured vehicle for law enforcement

Mercedes Benz has showcased its new G-Klass LAPV armoured vehicle at the GPEC exhibition in Frankfurt, being held in the city between 20th and 22nd February, which it is aiming at the police and law enforcement market.

The vehicle has been developed from a platform which is already believed to have entered service with Germany’s domestic counter-terror special forces. The vehicle weighs 6.2 tonnes, but offers North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) STANAG Level-2/3 ballistic protection. This gives the vehicle the strength to not only protect its occupants against weapons fire, but also to allow the vehicle to act as a robust barricade to stop terrorism attacks which use vehicles as a weapon to mow down pedestrians. Such levels of protection are usually associated with larger, and heavier, vehicle platforms, officials from the company told MONS during the show. In addition, the company states that the vehicle offers impressive agility with a 220 kilometres-per-hour (136 miles per hour) top speed, and a six metre (19.6 feet) length and 2.12m (6.9ft) width which makes the vehicle highly manoeuvrable, even in narrow and confined urban areas.

This new version of G-Klasse LAPV has already won undisclosed customers and has been delivered, Mercedes Benz officials shared with MONS. Although the basic design of the police and paramilitary/special forces vehicle is the same, some important differences exist between them. The police version can typically carry up to six personnel, as opposed to four for the military variant, as police operations do not typically have a requirement to also carry sufficient supplies for up to 24 hours of operation. The police version also includes emergency vehicle lighting and loudspeakers. That said, both versions of the vehicle can feature a customer-specified remote weapons station.

Thomas Withington