Defender 130 Kajman

History

Formally designated LAND ROVER DEFENDER - MILITARY ARMOURED 4, the Kajman grew out of Czech special forces' experience with earlier Defender-based SOV vehicles. Conversion work was carried out in the Czech Republic by armour specialist SVOS of Přelouč (some reports also credit AMT and the VOP military repair works in the programme), on the stretched Defender 130 chassis with the 2.4-litre Ford Duratorq 'Puma' turbodiesel of the late-production Defender. The body is a hybrid: Station Wagon lower panels mated to a High Capacity Pick Up rear tray, over which sits a removable roll cage carrying a weapon ring. Anti-fragmentation armour around the crew positions and underside blast protection meet STANAG 4569 Level 1, and each vehicle carries a winch, reinforced wheels, twin jerry-can racks at the nose and a swing-away rear stowage pannier.

The Kajman carries a driver plus a fully equipped six-man squad and two support weapons, with armament options pairing a front-pintle 7.62 mm PKB with a ring-mounted 12.7 mm DŠKM or NSV heavy machine gun, an AGS-17 30 mm grenade launcher, or Minimi light machine guns. Ninety-seven vehicles were produced in 2009-2011 by armedconflicts.com's count - a prototype and 79 series Kajmans for the 601st Special Forces Group and the 43rd Airborne Battalion at Chrudim (first deliveries December 2009), plus the slightly different Kajman M1 batch (ten per CZ Defence) for the 102nd Reconnaissance Battalion.

In service the type became the workhorse of the Czech airborne and special operations community, deploying with ISAF in Afghanistan and, from March 2013, to Bamako with the EU Training Mission in Mali, as well as to NATO exercises including NOBLE JUMP 2015 and the enhanced Vigilance Activities battlegroup in Slovakia in 2022. The fleet has aged hard - ballistic protection eats into payload, so the vehicles ran chronically overloaded, and Defender production ending in 2016 complicated support - and Czech planning called for the Kajman's service life to end around 2025, with replacement sought under the army's light strike vehicle programme.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

Land Rover (Defender 130 chassis)

Manufactured

Converted 2009-2011; in Czech service from December 2009, planned out of service around 2025

Modifier / coachbuilder

SVOS, spol. s r.o., Přelouč ↗

Engine type

2.4 L Ford Duratorq ('Puma') turbodiesel inline-four, 90 kW (122 PS)

Production run

~97 vehicles (prototype + 79 Kajman + Kajman M1 batch; CZ Defence counts the M1 batch as 10)

Country of origin

Czech Republic (conversion) / United Kingdom (base vehicle)

Status

being retired (service life planned to end around 2025)

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Defender

Wheels

4

Nominal wheelbase

130″

Base catalogue fields are exported from the Difflocked game. In-game physics values are arcade tuning, not certified historical measurements, and are deliberately not shown as specifications here.

Sources & citations

Researched sources

• CZE/GBR - Land Rover Defender 130 Kajman (Armoured 4) (SVOS Přelouč conversion; produced 2009-2011; 97 vehicles; Ford 244TD 2.4 L 90 kW; armament variants; 43rd Airborne delivery December 2009; Mali, Afghanistan, Slovakia deployments) ↗ — armedconflicts.com (accessed 2026-09-10)
• Light Strike Vehicles: Modernisation of the Czech Airborne fleet (79 Kajman to 601st SFG and 43rd Airborne; ten Kajman M1 to 102nd Reconnaissance Battalion; overloading and 2016 end of Defender production; service life ending 2025) ↗ — CZ Defence (accessed 2026-09-10)
• MLR 33 ~ Czech KAJMAN D130 RDV (designation LAND ROVER DEFENDER - MILITARY ARMOURED 4; Station Wagon/HCPU hybrid body; removable roll cage and ring mount; STANAG 4569 Level 1; six-man squad plus two support weapons; NOBLE JUMP 2015) ↗ — Joint Forces News (accessed 2026-09-10)

Catalogue references

• User-supplied Kajman reference photographs: Defender 130 open patrol body, crew cage, side spare and front jerry-can carriers.