Ukraine enhances frontline defense with Canadian senator vehicles
The Ukrainian defence industry has proudly announced that it has received the production data for the Roshel Senator vehicles, which will significantly speed up their delivery to frontline units. Here we present what they are and their capabilities.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, Ukraine has obtained plans enabling comprehensive production of Senator-type MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles from the Canadian company Roshel Defence.
These are not new, as over a thousand Senator vehicles have already been delivered to Ukraine, where they save soldiers' lives. Due to the lack of available infantry fighting vehicles, Ukraine is massively using MRAPs as their substitute. They are not the optimal solution but are better than civilian pick-ups.
Senator — the armoured taxi for Ukrainians from Canada
The Senator is a 4x4 vehicle capable of carrying up to 12 soldiers. It offers good mine resistance and decent ballistic protection based on a Ford F-550 chassis. According to the manufacturer, it is capable of withstanding an anti-tank mine blast, and its steel armour meets a mix of levels II and III standards of the STANAG 4569.
This means that the vehicle is resistant to artillery fragments from a 155 mm shell strike at a distance of 80 metres and to fire from small arms with 7.62x39 mm calibre loaded with API (Armour-Piercing Incendiary) rounds with tungsten carbide bullets. Class III refers to resistance to mines containing 8 kilograms of TNT. This offers much less protection than the M2A2 Bradley or the Marder 1A3, which are resistant to heavy machine guns from all sides; however, the Senator is better than a converted civilian pickup.
In terms of armaments, the standard for the Senator is a manned or remotely operated turret, usually equipped with a Browning M2 heavy machine gun of 12.7x99 mm NATO calibre. However, models with the Ukrainian Tavria turret featuring a more powerful KPWT heavy machine gun of 14.5x114 mm are also popular.
