Czech Army Defender 110

The Czech Army bought its first substantial batch of military Land Rovers at the end of the 1990s, and bought them for a specific reason: formations earmarked for international deployment, and in particular for peacekeeping in Kosovo, where Czech troops were to serve under British command. Buying the same vehicle the British Army used made that a great deal simpler.

What the Czechs bought was, in one respect, better equipped than its British counterpart. The 110s came with the 300 Tdi — the 2.5-litre turbocharged four of 111 bhp that Land Rover built from 1994 until the Td5 replaced it in 1998 — where the British pre-Wolf fleet was still running naturally aspirated diesels. The Czech MoD later added some 2000 model-year Defenders with the five-cylinder Td5.

The soft top is the troop-carrying form: eight seats on inward-facing benches in the back, a canopy with two large rectangular window panels in each side, two-piece front doors, a side-hinged rather than drop-down tailgate, a bull bar, military rear bumperettes and the spare wheel laid on the bonnet. Vehicles photographed on exercise STRONG RESOLVE in 2002 belonged to 2 Company of the 43rd Airborne Battalion, part of the 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade, operating there within a Belgian parachute contingent.

The finish is NATO infrared-reflective green, with the Czech national flag and roundel on the body sides, PFOR stencils on both sides and small roundels near the number plates. Fleet quantities have not been published.