Specialized
light armored vehicles designed specifically to resist land mines were first introduced in the 1970s by the
Rhodesian Army, and were further developed by
South African manufacturers starting in 1974 with the
Hippo armored personnel carrier (APC). The first step by the
South African Defence Force (SADF) was the Bosvark, a
Unimog fitted with a shallow mine-deflecting tub on the chassis to protect the crew. Then came the first generation of purpose-built vehicles, including the Hippo and various other light vehicles. They were essentially armoured
V-shaped hulls mounted on truck chassis. in
Ukrainian Marine Corps serviceThe next generation was represented by the
Buffel, a
Unimog chassis with a mine-protected cab and a mine-protected crew compartment mounted on it. These early vehicles overloaded their chassis and they were clumsy off-road. The
Casspir Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle was developed for the
SADF after 1980; this was the inspiration for the American and other military MRAPV program and the basis for some of the program's vehicles. == Design ==