THE BRITISH ARMY’S FV430 SERIES

In the early 1960s, the strength of the British army stood at around 220,000 troops to meet several global commitments, including bases in the Middle East, Hong Kong and Belize. However, its single largest deployment was the force known as the British Army of the Rhine, BAOR, which was Britain’s contribution to the defence of Western Europe alongside those forces from other nations forming NATO, based in the then national state of Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or Federal Republic of Germany (known then as “West Germany”). This was during the period known as the “Cold War,” when the threat of conflict with Russia and the then-Eastern Bloc nations that formed the Warsaw Pact was a possibility. To prepare for such an eventuality, NATO countries maintained strong forces and the latest equipment deployed in West Germany.

At that time, the British army required a modern armored personnel carrier to transport troops around the battlefield in the event of war, and a request was submitted for such a vehicle. The Wellington-based company of GKN-Sankey in Shropshire responded, and in 1961 produced a prototype known as the “Trojan.” The tracked design took as its starting point the intended FV420 series of vehicles, a project which had been cancelled before it got past the prototype stage. The choice of inspiration was unusual, but GKN’s proposed new design proved better, and following a series of successful field trials, a production order was placed with the company in 1962.