Official delivery of FOX Rapid Reaction Vehicles to Belgian Special Forces.

Tuesday, July 3, 2018, the new Belgian Army Special Operations Regiment (SOR) has officially takes delivery of the first production vehicle of the Rapid Reaction Vehicle (RRV) also nicknamed FOX. In January 2016, Belgian armed forces have awarded a contract to the British Company Jankel for the delivery of 108 FOX Rapid Reaction Vehicles (RRV).

The FOX Rapid Reaction Vehicle (RRV) at the headquarter of the new Belgian Special Operations Regiment based in Heverlee, Belgium.  (Picture source Army Recognition)

The FOX Rapid Reaction Vehicles is developed and designed by the British Company Jankel according to requirements and needs of Belgian Army. Currently, Jankel has delivered five vehicle to the Belgian that will be unveiled to the public during the military parade for the National Day, July 21, 2018.

The Fox RRV is based on the chassis of Toyota Hilux light commercial vehicle, with custom improvements and automotive upgrades asked by the Belgian army and according to the needs of the Special Forces units. It features a modular design, which enables multiple reconfigurations according to the requirements of customer. The reliable platform further offers superior off-road mobility and payload capacity.

For the Belgian Army, the vehicle will be delivered in two variants named Command (48) & Liaison and Reconnaissance (60). The first variant will be armed with one 7.62mm mounted on swivel station fitted on the right side of the vehicle that can operated by the commander of the vehicle. The reconnaissance version has a ring mounted located on the superstructure of he vehicle that can be armed with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun or 40mm automatic grenade launcher. The front of the vehicle ils also equipped with two banks of three smoke grenade discharger mounted at the front of the vehicle.

British Company Jankel has also delivered 38 removable protection kit offering STANAG 4569 Level 1 protection against small arms fire, shell splinters, and hand grenades. The under-belly protection plate further ensures protection from anti-personnel improvised explosive devices (IEDs) under the hull. This kit can be can be mounted and dismounted by a crew of two in less than four hours.

Both configurations is based on the same design using an open top architecture protected by a tubular frame roll-bar with the engine at the front, the crew in the middle and cargo compartment at the rear. The vehicle has a crew of four, it has a empty weight of 3,705 kg and a payload capacity of 800 kg. The vehicle is motorized with a 2.8L turbo Diesel engine developing 221 hp. coupled to an automatic transmission. It can run at a maximum road speed of 142 km/h with a maximum cruising range of 1,500 km.