President’s Guard Escort.

The President's Guard is the Sri Lanka Army regiment charged with the security of the President, and its escort vehicles are built for the job an escort does: carry armed men where they can see out and get out fast. The Defender 110s in this record have the rear body opened up — no side panels above the waist, a canvas canopy on a tubular frame for shade, benches along each side and a step at the tail — in black, with white-painted steel wheels and the red registration plates of Sri Lankan military vehicles; CZ 3285 is one of the pair photographed.

The photograph, by Chamal Pathirana, is dated 19 May 2012 and was taken on the Colombo seafront with the vehicles drawn up for a parade; Commons files it under Land Rover Defender in Sri Lanka service. Who converted the vehicles, how many the regiment runs and which engines they carry are not published. Sri Lanka has been a long-standing Land Rover user — the Shorland S55 and Hotspur Hussar records in this registry both list it among their export customers.