An Cosantóir

I reland might have one of the numerically smallest armies in Europe, but it is like a terrier with a bite bigger than its bark. At the tip of this Irish armed spear is the Army Ranger Wing. As an elite and very active force, they trial much new equipment before some of it goes on general release. So, what exactly are the Ranger Wings taskings? They are the proponents of both green and black roles on behalf of the Irish Government and Irish Defence Forces. They have been deployed on UN peacekeeping and peace-enforcing roles in the likes of Somalia, Lebanon, Chad, Afghanistan and Mali. They were officially created in March 1980 but there were nearly 20 years of prior tinkering and training by the Army to get the correct balance of what was required when officially sanctioned. Recently the Rangers hit the headlines by intercepting a large cargo vessel in very heavy seas with 2.2 tonnes of drugs aboard when they fast roped aboard from a helicopter. It was the Irish State's largest-ever drug interception. Other than a released Army PR video clip of the Rangers in action, nothing else was seen of them. The predecessor to the Ford F350 SRV was the ubiquitous Land Rover Defender 110 with WMIK weapons station. They were the first real weapons platform that the Rangers used and as a Defender fan, I was a bit put out by this upstart Yank pretender to the throne. So why did the Rangers choose the Ford F-350 SRV? Quite simply, that Yank powerhouse out front in the shape of a six-litre V8 diesel block. The Defender could not compete with the Fords 325hp and its 560 pound- foot torque of muscle. The six-litre Ford Power Stroke engine delivers its might through a 5 speed TorqShift automatic gearbox. The engine is manufactured by Navistar Trucks, and the truck is assembled in Ford's factory in Louisville, Kentucky. The big Ford has a stalk-mounted red button behind the steering wheel that is like a nitro button. Instead of a nitro mix you get a hunkering down of the engine and drive train to produce more power and torque to get you out of whatever difficult terrain you find yourself in. The other asset that the Ford brought to the table was its cargo capacity and its "good old boys" pick-up truck's ability to suck up punishment and still carry out the task at hand. | 15 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE ARMY RANGER WING FORD F-350 SRV FORD F-350 SRV ARTICLE BY COLIN STONE

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