Ferret Armoured Car

Ferret Scout Car
Ferret Mk.1/2 in desert finish
Type	Wheeled armoured fighting vehicle
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Specifications
Weight	3.7 t
Length	12 ft 2 in (3.7 m)
Width	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Crew	2 (commander, driver)
Main armament	7.62×51mm NATO GPMG if fitted .30 M1919 Browning machine gun
Secondary armament	none
Engine	Rolls Royce B60 Inlet over Exhaust I6 petrol 130 hp (97 kW)
Power/weight	35.1 hp/tonne
Suspension	4x4 wheel
Operational range	190 mi (310 km)
Speed	58 mph (93 km/h)

The Ferret armoured car, also commonly called the Ferret scout car, is a British armoured fighting vehicle designed and built for reconnaissance purposes. The Ferret was produced between 1952 and 1971 by the UK company Daimler. It was widely adopted by regiments in the British Army, as well as the RAF Regiment and Commonwealth countries throughout the period.

The Ferret was developed in 1949 as a result of a British Army requirement issued in 1947. 'Light reconnaissance cars' existed in during the Second World War, notably the Daimler Reconnaissance Scout Car.

Given its experience with the successful "Dingo" (6,626 produced and one of two British AFVs produced throughout WWII) the Daimler company was awarded a development contract in October 1948, and in June 1950 the first prototype of the Car, Scout, 4x4, Liaison (Ferret) Mark 1 was delivered.

Given the designation FV 701(C) it was one of several versions but the one that most closely resembled the original Daimler scout cars, and represented the basic model Ferret. This shared many similar design features with the Dingo, notably the H form drive train in which a central differential eliminates loss of traction due to wheel-slip, and parallel drive shafts considerably reduced the height of the vehicle (roughly equivalent to that of a tracked AFV), considerably reducing the vehicle's visual signature over conventional armoured car designs.

Like the Daimler scout car the Ferret suspension consisted of pairs of transverse links and single coil springs, the wheels driven by Tracta constant-velocity joints, but the Ferret benefited from epicyclic reduction gears that reduced transmission torque loads, essential given the more powerful six cylinder 4.26 litre water-cooled Rolls Royce B.60 petrol engine. Connected by a fluid coupling to a pre-selector five speed epicyclic gearbox, all gears being available in reverse, in its original form the Ferret this installation produced 116 bhp at 3,300 rpm and 129 bhp at 3,750 in its final form.