Defender 90 106 mm Recoilless Rifle Gunship
5460 XZ, the 1990 Defender 90 that Land Rover sent to Marshalls of Cambridge for conversion to a 106 mm recoilless-rifle gunship as a worldwide demonstrator: an open 90 with its door tops and roof removed and two raked flat screens, the rifle on a pedestal firing over the bonnet, a side-mounted spare and a 2.5-litre 200 Tdi — damaged in Peru, disarmed by a later owner, and restored with a deactivated rifle by the Dunsfold Collection.
History
The 106 mm recoilless rifle is an American design of the 1960s still in service around the world, and a light 4×4 that can carry one is a cheap anti-tank asset for a small army. Land Rover built this Defender 90 at Solihull in 1990 and sent it to Marshalls of Cambridge to be converted into a gunship demonstrator: the body opened up — roof and door tops removed — with two separate raked flat screens, the rifle — a tube nearly as long as the vehicle — on a pedestal behind the seats and firing over the bonnet, a spare wheel on the body side, with the 2.5-litre 200 Tdi and five-speed gearbox underneath. It toured the world as a sales demonstrator and was damaged in an accident in Peru.
Back in Britain it was sold in 1998 to an owner in South Wales who removed the weapon system, keeping the original parts, and fitted a truck cab and a full right-hand door. The Dunsfold Collection bought it at online auction in 2013, spent years finding a deactivated 106 mm rifle — sourced early in 2020 — and made new mounting brackets to return it to the configuration in the photograph, which this model follows. In the game the rifle fires the single-shell weapon the Australian gun buggy uses.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Marshall of Cambridge ↗Land Rover, Solihull; gunship conversion by Marshalls of Cambridge
- Manufactured
- 1990, 5460 XZ
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- Marshall of Cambridge ↗
- Engine type
- 2.5 L 200 Tdi turbo-diesel inline-four; five-speed gearbox
- Production run
- 1 (demonstrator)
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- United Kingdom
- Status
- preserved — Dunsfold Collection (restored with a deactivated rifle, 2020)
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Model line
- Defender
- Wheels
- 4
- Nominal wheelbase
- 90″
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.
Sources & citations
Researched sources
- 1990 Land Rover 90 106mm Recoilless Rifle Gunship, 5460 XZ — built at Solihull, converted by Marshalls of Cambridge; worldwide demonstrator, damaged in Peru; sold 1998; Dunsfold 2013; deactivated rifle fitted 2020 ↗ — The Dunsfold Collection (accessed 2026-09-11)
Catalogue references
- https://dunsfoldcollection.co.uk/collection/90-gunship/ https://dunsfoldcollection.co.uk/collection/90-gunship/ ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-11T08:16:29.630Z · status: researched