Wolf WMIK
The WMIK (Weapons Mount Installation Kit, 'wimik') is the open-topped reconnaissance and fire-support variant of the Wolf TUM HS, developed by Ricardo with Land Rover from the late 1990s: stripped of its roof and doors and fitted with a roll cage and ring mount for heavy weapons.
Factory colours
- NATO Green (IRR)
- Light Stone
Codes on hover. Hex values are representative approximations of period paint unless a source states a measured value.
History
The WMIK grew from the need to replace ad-hoc gun-armed Land Rovers with an engineered weapons platform. Ricardo (Vehicle Engineering / Special Vehicles), under contract to the MoD and working with Land Rover, developed its 'Cobra' weapons-mount concept into a kit that could be installed on — and removed from — the strengthened Wolf Defender 110 TUM HS chassis. The conversion strips the vehicle down, deletes the roof and doors, and adds a full roll cage, a rear ring mount for a heavy weapon and a pintle mount ahead of the front passenger. The first vehicles reached the British Army in the late 1990s (first deliveries are cited from 1998, with Ricardo's production of the initial batch in 1999).
A WMIK is typically crewed by a commander, driver and gunner, with the ring mount taking an L111A1 12.7 mm heavy machine gun, L134A1 40 mm grenade machine gun or L7 GPMG — early vehicles could also mount MILAN anti-tank missiles — and a second GPMG on the front pintle. In the long-range reconnaissance, force-protection and fire-support roles it deployed to Macedonia (1999), Sierra Leone (2000, Operation Palliser), Afghanistan from 2001 (Operation Herrick) and Iraq from 2003 (Operation Telic).
Operational experience drove successive upgrades: the Enhanced E-WMIK (from 2006) added protection, and the substantially rebuilt R-WMIK ('re-lifed', from 2008) and R-WMIK+ (from June 2010) introduced new chassis, protection and electrical fits to keep the platform viable against mines and small arms. Casualties from roadside bombs in Afghanistan nevertheless saw the heavier, better-protected Supacat Jackal assume much of the WMIK's role, though R-WMIKs were retained and renovated for tasks where the light, air-portable Land Rover platform still earned its keep. WMIKs were built in comparatively small numbers and are rarely released to the civilian market.
Imagery
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Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Land Rover with Ricardo (Vehicle Engineering)
- Manufactured
- 1998 onward (E-WMIK 2006; R-WMIK 2008; R-WMIK+ 2010)
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- Ricardo plc ↗
- Engine type
- 2.5 L (2,495 cc) 300 Tdi intercooled turbodiesel inline-four
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Status
- in limited service; front-line role largely assumed by the Supacat Jackal
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
- Land Rover Defender WMIK (Weapons mounted installation kit) ↗ — Ex-Military Land Rover Association (accessed 2026-09-09)
- Land Rover Wolf 4X4 Defence Project ↗ — Army Technology (accessed 2026-09-09)
- Land Rover Wolf ↗ — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09-09)
- Land Rover WMIK ↗ — eliteukforces.info (accessed 2026-09-09)
Drive it
This vehicle is playable in the Difflocked racing game.
RACE THE WOLF WMIK ↗Registry record updated 2026-09-09T10:08:23.174Z · status: researched