News Media Snatch (Macedonia 2001)
An ex-military CAV 100 Snatch armoured Land Rover sold commercially to a news organisation and run as a protected press vehicle in Macedonia at the height of the 2001 insurgency: the composite-armoured Defender 110 in plain white with TV in large black letters on its doors, body sides and rear.
History
Courtaulds' CAV 100 composite-armoured body on the Defender 110 chassis was bought by the British Army in 1992 as the Snatch for Northern Ireland and served on for a quarter of a century, from Bosnia in 1993 to 3 PARA's deployment to Sarajevo on Exercise QUICK RESPONSE in 2018. The CAV 100 was also sold commercially to news organisations, which needed protected transport for camera crews in conflict zones. Bob Morrison photographed a group of them in Macedonia at the height of the 2001 insurgency between the security forces and ethnic-Albanian NLA fighters: ex-military vehicles repainted white, stripped of their military fittings, wearing British registrations and marked TV in large black letters so that both sides could recognise them as press. Which broadcasters ran them, and how many, is not stated in the source.
The registry's model is its Snatch in white with the Army's ECM boxes, aerials and roof dome removed, white wheels and the TV lettering and plate from the photograph.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- NP Aerospace ↗Land Rover (Defender 110 chassis); CAV 100 composite armoured body by Courtaulds / NP Aerospace
- Manufactured
- CAV 100 Snatch built from 1992; in press use by 2001
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- Ex-military, repainted and marked for press use (converter not recorded)
- Engine type
- Land Rover 200 Tdi / 300 Tdi 2.5 L turbo-diesel (Snatch of the period; not stated in the source)
- Production run
- Unknown — a handful sold commercially to news organisations
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- United Kingdom
- Status
- unknown
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Model line
- Defender
- Wheels
- 4
- Nominal wheelbase
- 110″
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
- Military Land Rovers Pt 8 — CAV 100 Snatch (Bob Morrison; notes the CAV 100 was also sold commercially to news organisations, with vehicles seen in Macedonia at the height of the 2001 insurgency) ↗ — Joint Forces News (accessed 2026-09-11)
Catalogue references
- https://www.joint-forces.com/land-rovers/17751-military-land-rovers-pt-8-cav-100-snatch https://www.joint-forces.com/land-rovers/17751-military-land-rovers-pt-8-cav-100-snatch ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-11T10:13:55.315Z · status: researched