Mine-protected and mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles are today standard in the US, most major western armed forces and many other armies as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The South African Army was already routinely using mine-protected armored personnel carriers and patrol vehicles forty years ago even if they looked primitive and ungainly. A few years later, the South African Army had reached the stage where it could deploy entire combat groups into battle zones equipped with only mine-protected vehicles, including their ambulances and supply trucks. By then the mine-protected vehicles had also become effective for use in combat, rather than just protected transport, the Casspir being the chief example.

More to the point, they saved countless soldiers and policemen from death or serious injury, and the basic concepts now live on in the various MRAP types in service today. The valuable lessons learned by the South Africans with their early designs of these combat-proven vehicles has led the country to become one of the global leaders in the design of MRAPs which are locally manufactured and exported around the world. Surviving the Ride is a fascinating pictorial account featuring more than 120 of these unique South African-developed vehicles, spanning a forty-year period, with over 280 photographs, many of which are previously unpublished.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Authors’ note
• Foreword
• Chapter one: The road to MRAP
• Chapter two: 1940s, South Africa’s early armoured vehicle manufacturing success
• Chapter three: 1970s, Pioneering mine-protected vehicles and technology
• Chapter four: 1980s, Mine-protected vehicles save many lives during the height of the Border War
• Chapter five: 1990s, International markets open to South African mine-protected vehicles
• Chapter six: Demand for South African MRAPs in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Chapter seven: South African armoured cars and infantry combat vehicles
• Chapter eight: South African landmine-detection vehicles
• Chapter nine: Unusual South African mine-protected vehicles
• Chapter ten: Proving the concept
• Chapter eleven: South African influence on MRAP vehicles internationally
• Glossary
• Photo credits
• About the authors