Armoured Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series V8 ‘Dzhura’ enters the Ukrainian battlefield

Called the ‘Dzhura’, the customised Toyota is able to carry either four soldiers in an armoured cabin and have room for cargo, or can be specified to have room for six in an extended armored cabin.

The cargo space on the Dzhura utilises the factory styleside tub, which was on offered on single-cab variants of the LandCruiser 70 Series in the Australian market in previous years.

Up on top, the Dzhura can be optioned with a open turret and 7.62-caliber machine gun.

The ‘Dzhura’ is designed to perform “low-risk tactical tasks” on the battlefield, and will be used by police and Special Operations Forces (SOF) in Ukraine.

At five tonnes, the Dzhura is described as being ‘relatively’ lightweight and nimble for an armoured vehicle.

The Dzhura pictured appears to be powered by the ‘1VD-FTV’ 4.5-litre turbcharged diesel V8, which develops 151kW and 430Nm, running through a five-speed manual transmission.

The diesel V8, which has been discontinued for the Australian market, is described as ‘powerful’, ‘simple’ and ‘reliable’ in this application, giving the Dzhura an edge of maneuverability on the battlefield.

According to overseas reports, the Dzhura will also be able to be equipped with a 2.8-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, along with automatic or semi-automatic transmissions.

In a Youtube video by Militarnyi, a representative from Praktyka praises The LandCruiser platform for it’s chassis strength and suspension design, along with being one of the few ‘old-school’ four-wheel drives left in the world.

Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures. Off-road writer of the Year, Winner - Sam Purcell

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