Land Rover Wolf - Service

Service

Wolf was marketed in other countries than the UK but many foreign military Land Rover procurement agencies felt they did not need the extra strength and reliability of the Wolf because the older models had passed their own testing and Wolf was too expensive.

Vehicles based on the Wolf were proposed for requirements raised by Canada and the USMC but not selected. Other nations' service Land Rovers are visually very similar, particularly Italy's, but are in fact based on the Core Model (military) Land Rover Defender which does not include the Wolf chassis enhancements and other features. The Wolf is currently in service with Croatia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The vehicles have become a symbol of British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. In keeping with their hearts and minds philosophy they were chosen for patrol duties instead of armoured fighting vehicles such the Warrior infantry fighting vehicle. Following a spate of incidents, there has been concern that the unarmoured nature of the Wolf exposes the crews to excessive danger, and they are being supplemented by more heavily armoured vehicles such as the Vector and Mastiff Protected Patrol Vehicles.

The MoD is supplementing the Wolf by the now British built Pinzgauer and Alvis Panther in some utility and liaison roles and the new Supercat MWMIK due to a shortfall of WMIKs. There are reports that some of this equipment may have to be sold at below cost once operations in Iraq are completed as the Treasury has refused to cover the cost of replacement. In Afghanistan "an average of one of these vehicles a week" is being lost, and with replacements often arriving late; a "fifth of the fleet" of WMIKs is currently "damaged or has been destroyed by enemy fire".

The MoD is now selling off (casting) most of its fleet of Wolf 90 Land Rovers because the Bowman radio system is too heavy for the Wolf 90. The 110 version remains in service.