Babcock has completed the final two Jackal 3 vehicles to fulfill the first tranche of orders for the British Army, with Tranche Two production underway for an additional 53 six-wheeled ‘Extenda’ variants first ordered in 2024.

The Jackal 3 and its variants are widely utilised by the British Army for a range of tactical logistics and reconnaissance roles. The platform has been developed by UK-based armoured vehicle designer Supacat.

Col Jez Johnson, DE&S Protected Mobility Group Team Leader, said that the platform “boosts operational capability” for the British Army, in a Babcock social media post on 12 August.

The last two Jackal 3 vehicles produced under Tranche One will be delivered to the British Army by the end of 2025.

The Jackal 3 is the latest generation of Jackal vehicles that first entered service with the British Army in 2008, including improved crew protection and increased Gross Vehicle Mass for greater load carrying.

In addition, a new suspension system will improve off-road performance, with the vehicle able to be reconfigured from its current 4x4 configuration into a 6x6 variant to increase load carrying capacity.

The agreement for the provision of an initial 70 Jackal 3 HMTs for the British Army first came to light in February 2023, which also contained a provision for an eventual total provision of 240 of the type. There are around 700 Jackal variants in the British Army.

Jackal is welcome, but not enough

As previously reported, the development of a Jackal 3 is timely, as it aligns with an ongoing UK Ministry of Defence effort to reduce the 16 vehicle types currently in the British Army’s mobility fleet down to around five designs, under the Land Mobility Programme.

In-service platforms that will be part of this consolidation include the Wolfhound, Mastiff, and Ridgeback protected mobility platforms, the Panther and Foxhound 4x4s, the tracked Bulldog FV430, as well as utility platforms such as the Coyote, Jackal, Land Rover, and Pinzgauer.

The need to introduce replacement platforms shas become ever-more critical following the donation of vast quantities of British Army equipment to Ukraine in recent years, including its entire AS90 155mm artillery force.  

Mobility platform such as the Mastiff and Ridgeback are also understood to have been donated, leaving vast capability gaps in the British Army.