. This vehicle struck a mine while deployed to Afghanistan. The LRPV deployed to Kuwait in 1998 for Operation Desert Thunder, and first saw combat as part of the Australian contribution to the
War in Afghanistan,
Operation Slipper and later in Iraq in
Operation Falconer. The SASR's 1 Squadron arrived in Afghanistan in November 2001, and rapidly sent LRPV-mounted patrols hundreds of kilometers from their base at
Camp Rhino. In his history of the SASR's early operations in Afghanistan, journalist
Ian McPhedran wrote that the "Australian-designed LRPVs would prove ideal in the harsh Afghan environment, as they could stay on patrol for weeks on end without needing to return to base". On 16 February 2002 SASR Sergeant Andrew Russell was killed when the LRPV he was travelling in struck a mine during an operation in the
Helmand Valley. This was the first Australian fatality of the war, and Russell was the first member of the SASR to have been killed in action since the
Vietnam War. The two other members of the vehicle's crew were wounded in this incident, and the LRPV was destroyed. As a result of this incident, all of the remaining LRPVs were fitted with a "Survival Enhancement Kit", which consisted of armour plating beneath the vehicle and shock-absorbent seats. In 2003, the SASR's 1 Squadron were one of the first special forces units to enter Iraq in the
invasion, entering from
Jordan, consisting of two troops with LRPVs crossing the border entering the western desert and a third troop with LRPVs inserted by U.S. helicopters over the border. Western Iraq had been divided into areas to patrol between the
U.S. 5th Special Forces Group, the UK
Special Air Service and the SASR. The SASR was equipped with
FIM-92 Stinger Man-Portable Air-Defence Systems. The two troops who crossed the border conducted one of the first engagements of the war and the third troop inserted by helicopter was for several days the closest coalition element to Baghdad. The LRPV was later in the Afghanistan campaign, after Australia returned in 2006, patrolling regularly with the SRV, the Australian made
Bushmaster armoured vehicle as well as
Polaris six-wheel
all-terrain vehicles, which could be fitted with a
MAG 58 machine gun, and carry a
M3 Carl Gustav recoilless rifle. Coalition Special Operations had been using vehicles with the latest armour protected vehicle hull for many years, since 2003 the UK
Special Air Service had been using the
Supacat HMT 400 in Afghanistan and the same vehicle entered service with the US
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta in Afghanistan in 2004. In 2008, the Bushmaster became the primary
combat vehicle favoured over the LRPV. In August 2008, Australia placed an order for 31 of the latest
Supacat HMT vehicles, the Extenda configurable between 4x4 and 6x6, named the "Nary" for use in Afghanistan to replace the LRPVs for a cost of $80 million. The project to introduce these vehicles into service was delayed by three years due to problems integrating different systems onto the vehicles, but they reached their 'final operating capability' on 28 June 2012. Several Nary vehicles were deployed to Afghanistan. ==See also==