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"Remediation" TD5 Vehicles In around 2000 LR Australia imported a production Defender 110" Tdi Hardtop from the UK and then altered to suit Australian Army fleet requirements. Later a 2nd prototype was built using a TD5 engined vehicle. LRA handed it over for the ADF to evaluate... and later a supply contract was approved. Information on the Light Green Prototype that led to these vehicles can be found here. 33 of these vehicles were bought by the Army in 2000, and a further 17 in 2004. They are slated as having a 10 year service life, which is significantly shorter than the Perentie that it serves alongside. In late 2011 all of these vehicles were Auctioned off by the Australian Defence Force. The MY2000 and MY2004 vehicles do have some differences that are worth noting.
Update, November 2011:There are a number of rumors about these vehicles out there currently. These vehicles do not have rear differential lockers installed, and do not have heavy duty chassis. They are not built on the modified and galvanized perentie chassis that the rest of the Army Land Rovers use. The front of the chassis has also been modified to accept any one of the three bull bars fitted to the Perentie 110 Fleet. A limited number of military specific parts were installed on these vehicles over the standard civilian vehicles. Any of these parts that are specific to this vehicle will no longer be produced by Land Rover as there is no demand.
All Army Registration numbers of these vehicles can be found in the 110 TD5 ARN's
Parts books can be found on the Repair Parts Schedule page of REMLR.
Complete Equipment Schedules can be found on REMLR as well.
Workshop manuals can be found on the TD5 EMEI page |
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"Land Rover Australia has agreed to supply 33 custom built Land Rover 110 vehicles for use by the Australian Army. The vehicles will be built in Solihull, England, and are based on a Land Rover Defender 110 which uses the new 2.5litre, 5 cylinder turbo-diesel (Td5) power unit... "LRA is very excited about working with the ADF - this is the first time since 1977 that the ADF has specified general-duty Land Rovers based on a production model," said John Skinner, Commercial Director, LRA. "Land Rover vehicles built for the ADF under the Perentie (1984-92) and Bushranger contracts (1992-98) were specially designed 4x4 and 6x6 vehicles built at either Moorebank (Perentie) or Adelaide (Bushranger) and had different power units and transmission systems to the Solihull-built, Defender-based Land Rover 110 vehicles now commissioned. George Fowler, LRA engineering, who is responsible for the development of this latest production-based Land Rover 110, said the order was a breakthrough for LRA in the ADF vehicle procurement program. "The ADF has decided to use a production vehicle which is designed for a ten-year period of service. This decision recognises the increased levels of reliability and durability of a Solihull-production Defender 110, with the new Td5 power unit. "George Fowler and his team of engineers developed a concept vehicle, based on a production Land Rover 110, that was similar to existing Perentie and Bushranger Land Rover 4x4 vehicles in terms of driver control layout and ancillary equipment." ---- article in Experience, Number 23, 2000, publ. Land Rover Australia and Land Rover Monthly, August 2000. |
This PR pic of the Tdi configured as a "general-duty Land Rover" is dated around 2000 and appeared in the media as cited above. Even from a distance the new Auscam Defender 4x4 prototype and the Perentie 4x4 are easy to tell apart. Of course the hard top and the spare tyre mounted on the rear door are the easiest visual clues. The unit pictured in the Experience article is the original 'concept vehicle', a production Tdi from Solihull prepared by LRA in Moorebank Sydney, literally over-the-road from the Holsworthy Army base: the Tdi has the Auscam paint job, front winch (electric?), side lockers, platform roof, snorkel, civilian tyres, ATU bases, different sized side windows... and it has NSW civilian number plates. It doesn't appear to have the Army gardening tool brackets fitted. As a prototype unit, it was tested -but presumably not actually owned- by the ADF. |
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The article infers that
In late 2004 more information behind the Td5 Defender "general duties" came along. It turns out that in 2001 LRA sold off the first prototype/concept Tdi unit which had different sized side windows (NSW plated VDQ-254) at a local Moorebank auction yard. This was conceived as an FFR and was the only vehicle to have a cargo barrier. it was also a Tdi whereas the second concept/prototype was a TD5 LRA sold off the second "prototype Remediation Defender Hardtop" (vin SALLDBA87XA162467) at a Moorebank auction, 16th December 2004. "This was the Td5 variant and its interesting as it arrived in Australia having already been converted for another use by LRUK Special Vehicles (it carries an SV ident plate under the bonnet)". It was subsequently converted to the ADF configuration by LRA and looks identical to the 33 units purchased under the contract (See 2002 'in-service' pics below). Below are "before" and "after" pics (from either 2000 or 2001) showing the LRUK Td5 Hardtop 110 (ex-SV) as it arrived at LRA and as it left LRA in Sydney, ready for the ADF evaluations: "This second prototype was converted by LRA to 'Remediation Defender Hardtop' configuration... however the XD 'Wolf" style side door was subsequently removed and the box is open to the elements for the carriage of two jerry cans as are all production variants". As a prototype unit, it was tested -but presumably not actually owned- by the ADF.
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© LRA  |
© LRA |
| Photographs © LRA. Used with permission of Land Rover Australia. | |
Defender Td5 in Western Australia 2002
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Defender Td5 in Tasmania 2006
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Defender Td5 photos taken by Ashley S
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