The Re-lifed WMIK of 2008: the WMIK rebuilt around an armoured rear V-hull in place of the E-WMIK's suspended belly plates, with suspension uprated to a 4,100 kg gross weight, Bilstein dampers to steady the vehicle against the recoil of its main weapon, and demountable radio equipment — the last and heaviest form of the Wolf weapons platform.
Two years after the Enhanced WMIK the British Army revised the vehicle again, and this time the change was structural. The E-WMIK had hung armour plates beneath a standard Wolf; the Re-lifed WMIK, R-WMIK, gave the rear of the vehicle an armoured V-hull, the shape that deflects a blast outward rather than catching it, and correspondingly reduced the suspended under-belly armour that the V-hull made redundant.
Carrying it took another suspension upgrade, to a gross weight of 4,100 kg, and the dampers became Bilsteins chosen to cut the body sway that the recoil of the ring-mounted main weapon — a .50 heavy machine gun or 40 mm grenade machine gun — set up in a light vehicle. Later safety revisions removed the commander's seat and the windscreen capability. The powertrain stayed the Wolf's 300 Tdi and R380. A further step, the RWMIK+ at 4.7 tonnes gross, was delivered in 2010–11.
By the R-WMIK the WMIK line had gone from a 1998 reconnaissance vehicle to something close to the limit of what a Defender chassis could carry, which is why the Jackal took over the role. Quantities for the re-life programme are not published in the sources consulted.
Engineering Special Vehicles, with Land Rover (WMIK design); R-WMIK re-life programme
MANUFACTUREDR-WMIK from 2008; RWMIK+ deliveries 2010–2011
ENGINE2.5 L (2,495 cc) 300 Tdi intercooled turbodiesel inline-four, c. 111 bhp, R380 five-speed gearbox
PRODUCTION RUNUnknown — re-life numbers not published
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom, Afghanistan
STATUSwithdrawn
GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT4,100 kg (RWMIK+ 4.7 t)
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINEDefender
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE110″
CATEGORYMilitary · UK
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
Imagery
No published image yetA rendering impression or a free-licence photograph will appear here once one is published — the sources below link to photographs elsewhere
Where it was
GB United Kingdom2008–2020AF Afghanistan2008–2014
BuiltLand Rover, Lode Lane, SolihullUnited Kingdom · 2008–201152.43, -1.78
