Bombardier Bombi

     Notes: Though designed primarily as a snowcat-type vehicle, the Bombi is equally at move on other types of marginal terrain such as deep-sand deserts and swamps.  Today it is used primarily by various civilian agencies and companies, but it was once used widely by the Canadian armed forces, the Royal Navy and Marines and the British Army.  (I don’t know whether they are still in use by these militaries or not.)  The Bombi is a small vehicle, basically the snowcat counterpart to a jeep, with an enclosed 3-man cab, a rear-mounted Ford 1600 57-horsepower gasoline engine, and a small cargo platform in the rear.  The suspension is tracked with four roadwheels, each with air-filled tires around them. (Solid tires are an option.) Transmission is manual, but the Bombi is capable of pivot steering. Summer tracks, to be used primarily on hard surfaces, are 457mm wide and have rubber belts with steel track shoes; winter tracks use 584mm-wide rubber belts with aluminum track shoes.  The Bombi is equipped as standard with full air filtration for the engine and its components, an oil cooler/heater, and a cab lighting system.  Options include a spare roadwheel, an engine block heater, cab heating, air conditioning, and windshield defrosting, a brush guard/cutter for the front of the vehicle, a front or rear-mounted winch, high-altitude engine adjustments, a rear tow hook, and a front dozer blade.  A trailer has also been designed specifically for the Bombi; this trailer has two conventional tires, has a capacity of 453 kg, and has a tailgate as well as a tipper body.

Bombardier Iltis

     Notes: This is the standard light vehicle of the former West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada.  A weapons mount is located behind the front seats; however, no weapon is provided.  Originally a German design produced by Volkswagen, the design and rights to manufacture and sell the Iltis was sold to Bombardier of Canada in 1981, and it is still in production upon demand. The Iltis is a jeep-type light vehicle with a conventional layout.  The front has two individual seats, while the back has a single bench seat which can be folded up to increase cargo space.  Though the Iltis can be equipped with a fiberglass hard top, this is not a common configuration, and the Iltis generally is equipped with no top or a canvas top over a roll bar and a rear bow.  The 4x4 suspension may be shifted to 4x2 for road use.  Normally, the Iltis is capable of towing 750 kilograms, but if the trailer is equipped with its own brakes, this increases to 2 tons.  The engine of the Iltis is a Volkswagen 183 4-cylinder OHC gasoline engine developing 75 horsepower. It can be sling loaded from helicopters and parachuted from aircraft or dropped using LAPES.  Options include a front-mounted winch, a weapons post mount behind the front seats, or mounts and racks for TOW or Milan ATGM and extra missiles.  Variants include ambulances, command vehicles, cable-laying vehicles, commo vehicles, and a version fitted with artillery ranging equipment for FO teams.

Bombardier Skidozer

     Notes: This is a snow-cat-type vehicle designed for use in particularly difficult terrain such as deep snow, swamps, and sand, and able to be used in climates ranging from the high arctic to the deep desert.  The Skidozer is used by many countries and agencies, including Canada, Argentina, Greece, Italy, the RAF, the USAF, Turkey, and several civilian agencies ranging from the UN to Arctic and Antarctic scientists. 

     The Skidozer is basically a boxy steel body on a tubular frame, mounted on a pair of tracks which may be 740mm or 1040mm wide.  Two versions are available, one with a two-man heated and air-conditioned cab and a cargo bed at the rear, and one with a fully enclosed body which is able to carry up to nine passengers. (This is the version statted below.) There are doors on either side of the cab; they are wide so that personnel bundled up in heavy arctic clothing can get in easily.  With the fully enclosed body, there are also two large doors at the rear.  The tracks are rubber with steel or aluminum track shoes.  Roadwheels are large and have thin air-filled tires around them.  The Skidozer has high-efficiency air filtration for the engine, cooling and heating system for the fluids, and a lighting system for the interior.  The engine of the Skidozer is a Ford 6-cylinder gasoline engine developing 132 horsepower. Options include two types of dozer blades (straight/angled and U-shaped), power steering, solid rubber tires, and a rotating beacon atop the cab.

Western Star M1500 Light Support Vehicle Wheeled (LSVW)

     Notes: The LSVW is a 4x4 truck on a heavy-duty chassis, used by Canada.  They started replacing 3/4-ton, 1-ton, and 5/4-ton trucks in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1993.  The LSVW is of the high-mobility-type, with good ground clearance and automatic transmission.  The truck has a hardtop cab that seats three and a canvas-covered cargo bed.  The LSVW is powered by an Iveco Fiat 8142-47-1811 diesel developing 118 horsepower. It can tow 1.65 tons. A heater is provided, and the LSVW comes in the basic canvas-covered cargo bed, a van body, and a utility version for use as an ambulance, communications vehicle, cable-laying vehicle, shelter carrier, or workshop.  There is a 5-ton winch mounted in the front bumper.