Greater Manchester Police Armoured 110

History

Greater Manchester Police is one of the few British mainland forces to have operated purpose-armoured Land Rovers. A small batch of Defender 110s registered on 2010 '10' plates — BV10 RYM, BV10 RYP and BV10 SDZ are the registrations that have been photographed — was taken into service and based at Manchester Airport, the busiest UK airport outside London and a standing counter-terrorism commitment for the force. Vehicle documentation site UK Emergency Vehicles describes them simply as "heavily armoured and minimally marked"; photographs of BV10 RYP identify it as an Armoured Tactical Firearms Vehicle carrying the callsign XG52, and BV10 SDZ is likewise captioned as a Tactical Firearms Unit vehicle.

The conversion is unusually thorough for a mainland police Land Rover. The standard Defender body is replaced from the bulkhead back by a fabricated armoured pod with an armoured roof, small square vision ports rather than side windows, armoured door skins and a heavy front bar; the windscreen is armoured glass behind a hinged screen cover, and there is a full-length roof platform with grab hoops for officers working from the roof. Unlike the Northern Ireland Tangi or Pangolin, which wear force markings, these vehicles are finished overall in a flat dark blue-grey with the pattern picked out only in a self-coloured chequer, so they read as anonymous at a distance — hence the description as minimally marked. Registration on a 2010 plate makes them 2.4-litre Puma-engined Defenders.

Catalogue notes describe the vehicle as an armoured public-order vehicle; the published photographic evidence instead ties it to armed policing and airport protection, and both roles are plausible for a vehicle of this specification. The armouring contractor, the exact number built and the vehicles' current disposal are not established by any source found — Greater Manchester Police has not published a fleet breakdown for them, and this record should be treated as documented by enthusiast photography rather than by the force itself.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

Land Rover (Jaguar Land Rover)

Manufactured

2010 (10-plate) Defender 110 chassis; armoured conversion

Modifier / coachbuilder

Armoured body conversion by an unidentified contractor for Greater Manchester Police

Engine type

2.4 L Puma Duratorq TDCi turbo-diesel inline-four

Production run

at least three vehicles photographed (BV10 RYM, BV10 RYP, BV10 SDZ); total not published

Current owner

Greater Manchester Police ↗

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Status

in police service as photographed 2012–2014; present disposal unconfirmed

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Defender

Wheels

4

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

• BV10 RYP, BV10 RYM Greater Manchester Police Land Rover Defenders — heavily armoured and minimally marked, based at Manchester Airport ↗ — UK Emergency Vehicles (accessed 2026-09-10)
• 1436 — GMP — Greater Manchester Police — Land Rover Defender — BV10 RYP — Armoured Tactical Firearms Vehicle — XG52 ↗ — "Call the Cops 999" via Flickr (accessed 2026-09-10)
• 1771 — GMP — Greater Manchester Police — Land Rover Defender — Tactical Firearms Unit — BV10 SDZ ↗ — "Call the Cops 999" via Flickr (accessed 2026-09-10)
• Police > Airport Police ↗ — UK Emergency Vehicles (accessed 2026-09-10)

Catalogue references

• User references: https://live.staticflickr.com/8287/7530508010_96ecdb016d_b.jpg; https://www.ukemergency.co.uk/photo/p1300898.jpg; https://live.staticflickr.com/7056/6940733599_c8a0a7ef29_b.jpg. BV10 RYP / XG52 configuration.

Development reference notes

• [Christophe Jacquemont's photographic walkaround](https://warwheels.net/Shorland3apcPortJacquemont.html): detailed door hinges, armoured windscreen shutters, headlamp guards, turret hatch, mantlet and spotlight. The model retains military green rather than copying the photographed Portuguese police livery. · MILITARY-MODEL-REFERENCES.md

  - [Christophe Jacquemont's photographic walkaround](https://warwheels.net/Shorland3apcPortJacquemont.html): detailed door hinges, armoured windscreen shutters, headlamp guards, turret hatch, mantlet and spotlight. The model retains military green rather than copying the photographed Portuguese police livery.