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Terradyne Gurkha MPV – The Winnipeg Police Service ARV1

Winnipeg Police Service’s Terradyne Gurkha MPV armoured rescue vehicle

By: Dave Brown.

Terradyne Inc. builds three versions of their Gurkha tactical armoured vehicle at their Newmarket Ontario plant, all specifically built for the law enforcement and military protection markets around the world.

The largest and most rugged Gurkha truck is the LAPV, which is followed by the slightly smaller and less rugged MPV. The third truck is the RPV, which offers less interior seating capacity, but offers an exterior cargo area in a configuration similar to a short-bed quad-cab pickup truck.

They are all built on a Ford F550 chassis and are powered by a 6.7-litre turbo diesel V8 engine mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission and a drivetrain that offers part-time shift-on-the-fly 4×4 capability. The have a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 8,845 kg. They can travel all day up to a maximum speed of 115 km/h, which is limited only by the tires. Unlike ex-military armoured vehicles or those built on a heavy transport truck chassis, they are truly an armoured vehicle and does not need to be shipped by rail or flatbed truck when traveling longer distances.

In spite of armour protection against rounds such as 7.62×39, 7.62×51 and .50 calibre Browning, they meet all Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS) and U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), including center-of-gravity tests, braking systems, interior flammability and occupant crash protection.

While some uninformed sources have labeled the armoured rescue vehicle as a sign of increased “militarization of the police,” Winnipeg Police Service have responded by deploying their Gurkha at every opportunity and explaining that it is not an “armed” military vehicle, but that it is for the safety, protection and rescue of both citizens and police officers in high-risk situations.

One Winnipeg city councillor incorrectly labels it a “gunship” and stated, “I don’t know. It’s something out of the movies, right? It’s something you would see in Hollywood. It’s something you would see if you were to go to a movie like The Avengers or something like that.” The councillor obviously completely miss the point.

The report into the murders of three RCMP officers and the serious wounding of two others in the City of Moncton NB (population 70,000 people) in 2014, indicated how easy it was to disable police patrol vehicles with rifle fire, and how little protection regular police vehicles provide to officers when they are faced with an active shooter. The shooter, Justin Bourque, managed to instantly disable four police vehicles with rifle fire, and subsequently executed two officers and injured a third, all of whom were trapped in or near their vehicles.

Just as sobering to anyone reading the report, was the fact that no ambulances or EMS personnel could be dispatched into the active shooting zone because of lack of protection, resulting in both injured officers being transported to the hospital in a police vehicle or a commandeered civilian vehicle.

With the acquisition of the Terradyne Gurkha MPV, Winnipeg Police Service has taken positive steps to protect both officers and citizens of Winnipeg in high risk situation such as the one in Moncton and the one in Mayerthorpe, Alberta before that.

No one ever wants to see a situation where an injured officer or citizen is lying on the street bleeding to death, with no one able to safely rescue them because they don’t have the necessary protection against an active shooter or a potentially dangerous barricaded subject.

Critics forget that this type of situation happened in Winnipeg in 1989 during a 43-hour armed standoff that ultimately ended in the tragic deaths of an entire family. It should never happen again.

A tactical armoured vehicle is much like a parachute; one could go through their entire career hoping it never gets used, but when it’s needed, nothing else will do.

Dave Brown is Blue Line Magazine’s Firearms Editor and staff writer. He is a tactical firearms trainer and consultant. He can be reached at firearms@blueline.ca.

For more information on the Terradyne Gurkha and other armoured trucks, visit: http://www.terradyneinc.com/