Canadian Gurkha Multi-Purpose Vehicle Performs Live Rapid-Response Counterterror Demonstration.

Terradyne Armored Vehicles conducted a live demonstration of its Gurkha MPV armored 4x4 at the World Defense Show in Riyadh on February 11, 2026. The Canadian-built platform is positioned as a rapid response solution for counterterror, internal security, and high-risk troop transport, a capability increasingly relevant to U.S. law enforcement and allied security forces.

Terradyne Armored Vehicles staged a live demonstration of its Gurkha MPV at the World Defense Show in Riyadh on 11 February 2026, driving the Canadian-built 4x4 through a dynamic scenario to underline its role as a fast-to-field protected mobility platform for internal security, special operations support, and high-risk troop transport. In motion, the message was direct: move personnel into the danger zone under rifle fire and fragmentation threat, then extract them with minimal drama and minimal logistics overhead. That proposition carries particular weight in the Gulf, where counterterror response times are measured in minutes, and vehicle downtime quickly becomes an operational vulnerability.
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Terradyne Gurkha MPV armored 4x4, built on a Ford F-550 chassis, delivers high-level ballistic and blast protection with rapid-response mobility, six-door troop access, and mission-ready options for SWAT, internal security, EOD, command, and medevac operations in high-threat urban environments (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).

The vehicle Army Recognition observed at WDS presents the MPV in a configuration that feels purpose-built for urban crisis response: aggressive faceted armor geometry, thick multi-pane glazing, roof-mounted lighting and sensors, and a heavy front-end architecture that supports a winch and reinforced bumper for self-recovery or pushing through obstacles. The six-door layout is the MPV’s visual signature, designed to make loading and casualty extraction faster than on patrol variants with fewer access points. Terradyne markets the MPV specifically for law enforcement and troop transport, with optional mission fits spanning medevac, EOD, command post, and tactical medical support, which aligns with what regional ministries typically demand from a single protected platform.

The Gurkha MPV sits in the “commercially rooted, militarized where it matters” category. It is engineered on the Ford F-550 4x4 chassis, a choice that prioritizes worldwide parts availability, familiar maintenance practices, and road safety compliance over the bespoke running gear of heavier MRAPs. A recent specification sheet lists a gross vehicle weight rating of 19,500 lb (8,845 kg), curb weight around 16,800 lb (7,620 kg), and payload near 2,700 lb (1,224 kg), with a fuel tank of 40 gallons and a published road range of about 425 miles (680 km). Mobility figures include 60 percent gradient, 40 percent side slope, 41 inches (1,041 mm) fording, and a 70 mph (110 km/h) top speed, placing it firmly in the rapid response bracket rather than the slow, heavy convoy-protection bracket.

Protection is where Terradyne tries to separate the MPV from “armored trucks” that merely look tactical. The company advertises armor up to NIJ IV, CEN B7, and STANAG level 2+, and states its Gurkha line has undergone full-scale ballistic and blast testing pushed beyond STANAG 4569 Level II, including a 6 kg TNT-equivalent under-wheel event in testing narratives. In procurement-grade documents, the opaque armor is described against threats as severe as .30-06 M2 armor-piercing and UL 752 Level 10 (.50 caliber M33), with transparent armor quoted at 2.5 inches thickness and likewise tested to high ballistic standards; floor blast resistance is also referenced against simultaneous DM51 grenade detonations. Run-flat inserts and tuned heavy-duty suspension components are part of the survivability logic, keeping the vehicle mobile after hits, which is often the decisive factor in real-world extraction missions.

The MPV’s tactical advantage is not about winning a stand-up fight with heavy weapons, but about controlling exposure. A country can use the platform to move a small assault element under protection to a breach point, establish an armored “mobile wall” for evacuating civilians, or insert a tactical medic team into a hot zone where soft vehicles would be mission-killed immediately. The six-door body and high internal volume support roles that militaries and gendarmeries increasingly prioritize: rapid casualty extraction, protected command and communications, and EOD technician transport with the ability to carry mission kits. Terradyne’s emphasis on modular options also maps to Gulf requirements, where agencies often want one fleet that can rotate between CT response, critical infrastructure security, and border reinforcement depending on threat tempo.

Open-source histories trace the Gurkha concept back to Armet Armored Vehicles, with Terradyne acquiring the design rights in 2011 and continuing development and production under the Gurkha brand. In parallel, Terradyne’s corporate trajectory is frequently described as beginning within the orbit of Canada’s automotive industrial base before operating as an independent armored vehicle specialist, a background that helps explain the program’s consistent focus on automotive reliability paired with high-hardness armored structures. In practice, that translates into iterative upgrades driven by customer feedback from police and government buyers rather than by large, rigid military requirement documents.

As for users, the Gurkha family has been adopted widely across North American law enforcement, with open-source operator lists naming multiple Canadian provincial and municipal police services and a long roster of U.S. agencies. Internationally, reporting also points to adoption by security and police organizations in several countries, and the type has gained renewed visibility through donations and purchases supporting Ukraine, where Gurkha vehicles have been associated with armored ambulance and medical evacuation tasks. That medevac use case is instructive: it plays to the MPV’s interior volume, access, and ballistic survivability rather than asking it to replace a purpose-built infantry fighting vehicle.

Against competitors, the Gurkha MPV’s closest peers are other Ford-based protected platforms and lighter armored rescue vehicles. The Lenco BearCat, for example, is also built around a modified Ford F-550 concept and is optimized for law enforcement entry, rescue, and tactical transport, underscoring how mature this market segment has become. Step up a class and vehicles like Otokar’s Cobra II MRAP offer higher gross weight and deeper growth room for weapon stations and mine protection packages, but they bring a more complex military logistics footprint and cost profile that not every internal security buyer wants. In Riyadh, Terradyne’s bet is that many customers are not looking for a battlefield MRAP; but for a vehicle that can be serviced like a truck, protected like an armored capsule, and deployed immediately in the kinds of high-risk incidents that dominate today’s security environment.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.