The modern battlefield has shifted dramatically and European militaries need a future-ready common-based platform to replace aging legacy fleets. And they need it now.

Traditionally, military mobility meant bespoke, low-volume development programs. The result has always been the same: billions in taxpayer money, multi-year production lead times, and rigid platforms that struggle to adapt once deployed in theatre.

But there is a better way.

By taking a world-leading, highly capable commercial platform and adapting it to military-grade specifications, we deliver high-performance vehicles, immediate acquisition speed, and the strategic depth of a global parts and service network.

That is why Ford is answering the call from governments and militaries across Europe and North America. And it is why in the UK, we have joined forces with General Dynamics Land Systems UK and Ricardo to compete for the UK Ministry of Defence’s Light Mobility Vehicle (LMV) Programme.

Together, we offer not just an off-the-shelf vehicle, but a true through-life solution built on the Ford Ranger ¹ and Ranger Super Duty. This team is adept and committed to evolving alongside the changing missions and capability needs of today's military. We deliver highly capable vehicles but also ensure timely and effective parts delivery as well as the service and support to keep vehicles operating on the roads — so troops always have the mobility and dependability they need to manoeuvre and win.

Backing British: Domestic Footprint Meets Global Depth

Stepping up when our nations call is in Ford’s DNA. During World War II, our UK operations at Dagenham and plants across North America built hundreds of thousands of vehicles and engines for the Allied war effort. When COVID-19 struck, we reconfigured manufacturing lines overnight to produce over 22 million face shields, 50,000 ventilators and 32,000 respirators.

Ford has served Britain for more than a century, currently employing over 6,000 people across the country. Our domestic footprint directly underpins this defence relationship:

· Dagenham: the heart of the Ranger Super Duty — its 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine — is manufactured right here in Greater London, alongside two other diesel engine lines.

· Dunton: home to global commercial vehicle engineering, technical development, and conversion design.

· Daventry: our central logistics and parts distribution hub, securing resilient, long-term fleet supply.

· Halewood: advanced electric powertrain and e-drive manufacturing.

This deep UK presence, paired with our nationwide dealer and mobile service network, gives the Ministry of Defence immediate access to mature aftersales support, parts availability, and an ingrained "Right to Repair" philosophy from day one.

The Platform: Proven in the Most Extreme Environments

I spent over a decade in Ford’s Asia-Pacific product development organisation, leading engineering teams on the global platform that underpins today’s Ranger. I know the engineers who designed it. I know the extremes that shaped it. And I know the standard we held ourselves to.

Ranger is Ford’s most global vehicle: it's built in five plants across four continents, sold in over 180 markets, and recognised as the best-selling pickup in Europe for 11 consecutive years.²

That level of industrial scale gives armed forces advantages bespoke defence programs can never match:

1. Surge Capacity on Demand: we can flex production across global facilities to rapidly meet defence requirements, eliminating the bottlenecks and multi-year wait times of low-volume builders.

2. 5-Star Euro NCAP for Ranger: uncompromising occupant protection and active safety systems protect troops during routine transit, training, and tactical deployments.

3. Common Fleet Architecture: sharing architectural DNA across the global Ranger and truck families streamlines driver training, simplifies maintenance, and reduces whole-life logistics friction.

Ranger Super Duty: Extreme Capability by Design

The Super Duty badge is not a trim line. It is an engineering promise reserved exclusively for vehicles designed to operate beyond standard physical limits.

With Ranger Super Duty, we pushed capability to the absolute edge of the midsize footprint:

· Payload & Towing: just under 2-tonne (1,982 kg) payload, 4.5-tonne towing capacity and an 8-tonne Gross Train Mass (GTM).³

· Powertrain: British-built 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel delivering 209 PS and 600 Nm of torque.⁴

· Tactical Off-Road Hardware: locking front and rear differentials, heavy-duty transfer case, upgraded suspension, almost 300 mm of ground clearance, and comprehensive steel underbody protection.

· Water Wading: a proven 850 mm capability.

To earn the Super Duty name, our durability teams logged nearly 5 million kilometres of extreme testing across five continents, in temperatures from -40°C in the Arctic to +50°C in the Australian outback.

We ran simulated 10-year service cycles in specialist monsoon chambers. We subjected the chassis to Silver Creek — Ford’s most brutal durability track in Australia — using robotic test drivers because human bodies are limited to one round per day due to the continuous shock loads. We repeatedly drove test vehicles through deep clay pits until they were caked in 600 kg of mud just to validate cooling, suspension geometry and corrosion resistance under extreme weight penalties.

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Interoperable, Adaptable, and Connected

A modern military platform must adapt as quickly as the tough and demanding environments in which they operate evolve. We engineered Ranger for conversion from day one.

Inside the cabin, the primary touchscreen is designed to switch seamlessly to display and control third-party tactical mission software, eliminating the cost, weight, and failure risks of tearing apart dashboards to splice in secondary wiring harnesses.

“We engineered Ranger for conversion from day one.”

Jim Baumbick, President, Ford in Europe

Externally, pre-wired auxiliary switches and unified camera/sensor mounting locations allow converters to fit bespoke communications gear, troop transport and other specific operational needs of the military.

Behind all of this is the Ford Pro ecosystem: fleet uptime management, telematics, predictable whole-life ownership costs, and a global supply chain capable of delivering replacement components to the harshest environments on Earth.

The Bottom Line

Defence forces do not have the time or the budget to reinvent the wheel with low-volume, bespoke engineering projects.

With Ford, General Dynamics Land Systems UK, and Ricardo, the UK Joint Force gets the ideal combination: capability recognised the world over, British engineering and manufacturing, and the unstoppable scale and reliability of the world’s leading commercial platform.

Ready to deploy. Built to win. Not by accident. By design.

Jim Baumbick is President, Ford in Europe.

¹ Ranger 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel homologated CO₂ emissions 269-333 g/km and homologated fuel efficiency 10.2‑13.8 l/100 km WLTP. The declared WLTP fuel/energy consumptions, CO₂ emissions and electric range are determined according to the technical requirements and specifications of the European Regulations (EC) 715/2007 and (EU) 2017/1151 as last amended. The applied standard test procedures enable comparison between different vehicle types and different manufacturers.

² Based on S&P Global Mobility sales data. Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

³ When properly equipped. Max towing varies based on cargo, vehicle configuration, accessories and number of passengers. Max payload varies and is based on accessories and vehicle configuration. See label on doorjamb for carrying capacity of a specific vehicle. Always properly secure cargo. Payload and towing are independent attributes and may not be achieved simultaneously.

⁴ Horsepower and torque are independent attributes and may not be achieved simultaneously.