CASE HISTORY
Background
Representatives from the King of Jordan were introduced to SHP by a previous motorsport customer and a project brief quickly followed to undertake the design, prototype build and development of three types of military vehicles.
The objective was for all design, prototype build and development work to be undertaken in the UK by SHP and once this was completed the vehicles would go into production in a newly constructed factory in Jordan.
Brief
Design, Develop and prototype build 3 different vehicles:
Vehicle No 1: Title: Black Iris
Carry 2 personnel,
500kg of equipment,
capable of travelling 120km/h across the desert,
light enough to be transported by helicopter,
Vehicle No 2: Title: Desert Iris
Carry 4 personnel,
Capacity for the addition of military options,
Excellent off road driving capabilities in both desert and mountains,
Vehicle No 3: Title: Desert Fox
Long distance patrol vehicle.
carry 4 personnel with considerable equipment,
self sufficient for up to 14 day expeditions with fuel, drinking water and food storage.
Solution
The three different vehicles were built using Toyota parts where possible, to standardise parts supply, along with a tubular chassis produced in-house.
The Desert Fox was built on a Toyota heavy duty land cruiser pickup- truck chassis but with a secondary chassis mounted to it to give tortional stiffness, yet flexibility to cope with the off- road conditions it would be working in.
Result
After testing in the UK and Jordan the vehicles were declared a success and went into production.
SHP continued to be involved throughout the initial stages of the project with training production staff for the build of the vehicles, procurement of parts and production of service manuals.
Over 500 of the Black and Desert Iris vehicles were built in Jordan and a large number of Desert Fox’s were built by SHP in the UK before production started properly in Jordan with vehicles operating in Jordan and throughout South East Asia.
