The Shorland is an armoured car that was designed specifically for the Royal Ulster Constabulary

Royal Ulster Constabulary

The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...

 by a police support officer Ernie Lusty during the sixties for patrolling the border to prevent organised smuggling. They were reallocated to the Ulster Defence Regiment

Ulster Defence Regiment

The Ulster Defence Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army which became operational in 1970, formed on similar lines to other British reserve forces but with the operational role of defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage...

 in 1970. The Royal Ulster Constabulary soon replaced the Shorland with an armoured Land Rover with more conventional profiles and no machine gun

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....

 turret.

This being the original Shorland Armoured Car, which quickly became known in Land Rover Circles as the boat tail Shorland.

The vehicles were built by Short Brothers and Harland

Short Brothers

Short Brothers plc is a British aerospace company, usually referred to simply as Shorts, that is now based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Founded in 1908, Shorts was the first company in the world to make production aircraft and was a manufacturer of flying boats during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s...

 of Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 using a chassis from a Series two Land Rover

Land Rover

Land Rover is a British car manufacturer with its headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. It is owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, forming part of their Jaguar Land Rover group...

, from which the name was derived.

Contrary to popular belief, very few of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Armoured Land Rover Fleet which at its peak was in the region of 450 Land Rovers were actually built by Shorts and Harland in Belfast. In the early days the Hotspur, built in Wales formed the basis of the fleet.

By the nineties the Land Rover Tangi

Land Rover Tangi

The Land Rover Tangi is the last in the line of a range of armoured vehicles, based on the Land Rover chassis used in policing during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. They have been used by the Royal Ulster Constabulary and, since its renaming, by the Police Service of Northern Ireland...

, designed and built by the Royal Ulster Constabulary's own vehicle engineering team, was by far the most common model.

Shorts and Harland continued to develop the original Boat tail Shorland from an armoured patrol car with a crew of 3 to armoured personnel vehicle, capable of carrying two up front and six in the rear and a small number of these were used on the streets in Northern Ireland as late as 1998.

In 1996 the Short Brothers sold the complete Shorland design to British Aerospace Australia

BAE Systems Australia

BAE Systems Australia, a subsidiary of BAE Systems plc, is the largest defence contractor in Australia. It was formed by the merger of British Aerospace Australia and GEC-Marconi Systems and expanded by the acquisitions of Armor Holdings in 2007 and Tenix Defence in June 2008.-History:BAE Systems'...

.

Design

The Shorland is a long wheelbase Land Rover

Land Rover (Series/Defender)

The Land Rover Defender is a British four wheel drive off-road utility vehicle developed from the original Land Rover Series launched in 1948.-Name and badge distinctions:...

 with the turret of a Mk 2 Ferret armoured car

Ferret armoured car

The Ferret armoured car, also commonly called the Ferret Scout car, is a British armoured fighting vehicle designed and built for reconnaissance purposes. The Ferret was produced between 1952 and 1971 by the UK company, Daimler...

. The vehicle has upgraded suspension to deal with the extra weight of the armour.

Series 5

• Based on the Defender 110 chassis
• 3.5 litre Rover V8 petrol engine or 2.5 litre Rover Tdi Turbo diesel engine
• Welded armour fully enclosed body, no turret
• Versions
  • S52 - Armoured Patrol Car
  • S53 - Air Defence Vehicle
  • S54 - Anti-hijack Vehicle
  • S55 - Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC)

Current and former Operators

- 30 in service with the Internal Security Forces

Internal Security Forces

The Internal Security Forces – ISF or Forces de Sécurité Intérieure in French, are the national police and security force of Lebanon. Modern police were established in Lebanon in 1861, with creation of the Gendarmerie...

  - Sindh Police

Law enforcement in Pakistan

Law enforcement in Pakistan is carried out by several federal and provincial police agencies. The four provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory each have a civilian police force with juridiction extending only to the relevant province or territory...

- 38 in service with the Portuguese Republican National Guard

Portuguese Republican National Guard

The term Republican National Guard may refer to:*Italian National Republican Guard*Portuguese National Republican Guard...

 (currently replaced by the MAV 5 Armoured Personnel Carrier) - Gendarmerie

Turkish Gendarmerie

The Turkish Gendarmerie is a branch of the Turkish Armed Forces and it is responsible for the maintenance of the public order in areas that fall outside the jurisdiction of police forces , as well as assuring internal security and general border control along with carrying out other specific...

- Iraqi security forces

Iraqi security forces

Iraqi security forces is a U.S. Department of Defense term for all security forces of the Federal government of Iraq. They consist of the following organizations:*Ministry of Defence **Iraqi Armed Forces:*** Iraqi Army*** Iraqi Air Force...

 - Two mock Shorlands in Botswana Defense Force's colours were employed in a Selous Scouts

Selous Scouts

The Selous Scouts was a special forces regiment of the Rhodesian Army, which operated from 1973 until the introduction of majority rule in 1980. It was named after British explorer Frederick Courteney Selous , and their motto was pamwe chete, which, in the Shona language, roughly means "all...

' covert operation in 1979