The Sri Lanka Army President's Guard's VIP escort Defenders: black open-sided Defender 110s with a canvas canopy on a tubular frame, inward-facing bench seats for a section of guardsmen, a rear step and white wheels, on military red plates — photographed on the Colombo seafront on 19 May 2012.
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.
Specification
MANUFACTURERLand Rover
MODIFIER / COACHBUILDEROpen escort-body conversion (converter not recorded)
MANUFACTUREDDefender 110 in President's Guard service by May 2012, when photographed
ENGINEDefender 110 — 300 Tdi, Td5 or Puma by year; not stated in the source
PRODUCTION RUNUnknown — two vehicles photographed; fleet size not published
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INSri Lanka
STATUSin service
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINEDefender
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE110″
CATEGORYMilitary · Other
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.
