Rapier 101FC.

Australia bought the Rapier low-level air defence system from the British Aircraft Corporation in the mid-1970s, and the vehicle that came with it was the Land Rover 101 Forward Control — the V8-engined, one-tonne cab-over gun tractor Land Rover had developed for the British Army. Fifty-eight right-hand-drive 101s were built by Land Rover for BAC between 1976 and 1978 as part of that package, a small slice of the 2,660 or so 101s built in total. A handful of others have been privately imported into Australia since.

16 Air Defence Regiment was the primary user, towing Rapier fire units and their storage trailers, with missile racks fitted in the back of the vehicle; the RAEME Training Centre and the School of Artillery also ran them. At any one time 16 AD Regt had at least 28 vehicles on strength, but the individual vehicles were rotated continuously through Moorebank workshops against a pool, so the fleet numbers on a unit's books were not tied to particular chassis.

Mechanically these were standard 101s: 3.5-litre Rover V8, four-speed LT95 gearbox with permanent four-wheel drive, 101-inch wheelbase, 9.00×16 tyres, and front and rear power take-off winches. They were finished in the same olive drab as the Australian Army's Series III fleet of the period rather than the British bronze green.

The 101s left Australian Army service around 1990 and many went to auction — one sale at Holsworthy in the early 1990s released about fifteen of them, by then stripped of their Rapier equipment and presented as standard general-service vehicles, at prices in the region of $9,000 to $13,000. The type is well represented among Australian military vehicle collectors today.