In the News
Having a Blast - Driving Impression: Paramount Group Marauder
January 26, 2012
The Marauder is not only one of the most capable 4x4s in the world; it can also withstand several kilos of plastic explosives without its passengers getting hurt. And it is proudly South African.
HOW many times has this happened to you? You sit in traffic for what seems like eternity. Steadily, the frustration levels start to build as taxi after taxi, followed by the occasional blue-light brigade, come shooting past on the yellow line, cutting into the flow at the front, slowing down progress even further. Sitting there daydreaming, you quietly wish you were driving a large military-spec vehicle that could drive over the cars of all those transgressing road users, or even blast them to smithereens. And then you sigh, because there is no such thing. But there is … sort of. As my mentor once said, stories are either true or beautiful. This would indeed have been a beautiful story, but for the fact that the subject of this article, the Paramount Marauder, is not generally sold to the public. What is true though is that at around R5 million (to those who pass the background check), the Marauder costs as much as a Rolls-Royce production facility in Midrand and reveals the company’s philosophy. “Protection of people is Paramount’s highest priority. We’re not building fighting vehicles.”
Paramount is well established in about 30 countries worldwide. All the vehicles the company produces share their drive-trains with the Marauder. So, parts are easily interchangeable. All of the vehicles are available as kits and easy to assemble anywhere in the world. In essence, the Marauder is built to serve as a reconnaissance vehicle and during peacekeeping operations. Nevertheless, it can be configured as a simple-wheeled troop carrier or as an effective-wheeled combat vehicle by the addition of a heavy machine gun mounted in a variety of turrets. Len explains the mine-protection measures without revealing any company secrets. “In the beginning, the best blast protection was a V-shaped hull but, lately, technology has advanced. What is currently used is a sandwich method of steel layers. Most injuries occur to the feet and ankles of drivers and passengers. A mine blast lifts even a 10-tonne vehicle such as the Marauder several metres into the air,” he explains. The Marauder can withstand an anti-tank mine blast anywhere under the hull, or a double anti-tank mine blast under any wheel, without suffering hull rupture. The anti-blast seats are designed to prevent Sandwiched steel underpinnings can withstand an anti-tank mine blast.
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