The UK Ministry of Defence has contracted a Supacat-Babcock alliance to deliver 70 High Mobility Transporters (HMT 400 series) vehicles for the British Army.
The vehicles are to be delivered by March 2024.
The order could expand to up to 240 light armored vehicles “should operational requirements demand,” London-based Babcock said.
Over 400 Armored Vehicles Promised to Ukraine
The announcement comes over a month after UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that the country would deliver over 200 additional armored vehicles to Ukraine, including 14 Challenger 2 tanks.
London has already delivered more than 200 armored vehicles to Ukraine, including Husky, Mastiff, Wolfhound, Spartan, and Stormer.
The new investment would help the UK fill the gap left after Ukraine deliveries.
The ‘Jackal’
The ‘Jackal’ HMT 400 made its operational debut in 2008 in Afghanistan. Since then, 600 of the platforms have been assembled.
The vehicle “builds on the success of Supacat’s original All Terrain Mobility Platform,” which was inducted in the late 1980s, Babock explained.
The Jackal is available in 4×4, 6×6, and convertible “Extenda” configurations and comes with an optional mine blast and ballistic protection kit.