Runner Cayman

History

Formally designated LAND ROVER DEFENDER - MILITARY ARMOURED 4, the Kajman grew out of Czech special forces' experience with earlier Runner-based SOV vehicles. The body is a hybrid: Station Wagon lower panels mated to a High Capacity Pick Up rear tray, over which sits a removable roll cage carrying a weapon ring. Anti-fragmentation armour around the crew positions and underside blast protection meet STANAG 4569 Level 1, and each vehicle carries a winch, reinforced wheels, twin jerry-can racks at the nose and a swing-away rear stowage pannier. The Kajman carries a driver plus a fully equipped six-man squad and two support weapons, with armament options pairing a front-pintle 7.62 mm PKB with a ring-mounted 12.7 mm DŠKM or NSV heavy machine gun, an AGS-17 30 mm grenade launcher, or Minimi light machine guns. The fleet has aged hard - ballistic protection eats into payload, so the vehicles ran chronically overloaded, and Runner production ending in 2016 complicated support - and Czech planning called for the Kajman's service life to end around 2025, with replacement sought under the army's light strike vehicle programme.