A WMIK in Royal Marines hands: the Wolf-based weapons platform in sand finish, with the commander's pintle-mounted GPMG at the front, the gunner's ring at the rear for a .50 HMG, 40 mm GMG or a second GPMG, a side-mounted spare and the stowage of a vehicle living on patrol — as run by 3 Commando Brigade's reconnaissance and brigade patrol troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The WMIK was designed for the army's reconnaissance regiments, but the SAS had pioneered the idea of a Land Rover as a mobile gun platform, and the Royal Marines took to it for the same reason: a commando brigade fighting a long way from its ships needs something faster than a foot patrol and lighter than an armoured vehicle. The Recce Troop of 40 Commando and the Brigade Patrol Troop of 3 Commando Brigade ran WMIKs alongside the Parachute Regiment's Pathfinders, the Royal Irish and the RAF Regiment.
The layout is the standard WMIK. The rear roll-cage carries a well in which the gunner stands, swinging his weapon through a full 360 degrees on a rail — a .50 heavy machine gun, a 40 mm grenade machine gun or a 7.62 mm GPMG — with a Milan anti-tank launcher mountable on the rear bars. The passenger side, normally the commander's station, has a pintle mount that usually carries a GPMG. Underneath is the Wolf TUM HS with its 300 Tdi and 24-volt electrics, with a roll cage lowered to fit a Chinook. The sand finish, side spare and patrol stowage are the marks of Operation Telic and Herrick service, where the Marines' WMIKs saw most of their fighting.
Numbers held by the Royal Marines are not published.
MANUFACTUREDWMIK in service from 1998; E-WMIK 2006; R-WMIK 2008
ENGINE2.5 L (2,495 cc) 300 Tdi intercooled turbodiesel inline-four, c. 111 bhp, R380 five-speed gearbox
PRODUCTION RUNUnknown — Royal Marines holdings not published
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom, Afghanistan
STATUSwithdrawn
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINEDefender
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE110″
CATEGORYMilitary · UK
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
