Australia orders DAGOR offroad vehicles

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has selected to purchase an additional quantity of Deployable Advanced Ground Off-Road (DAGOR) special operations vehicles from Polaris Australia, the company announced on 9 September.

The ADF has agreed a AUD22 million (USD14.6 million) deal for an undisclosed number of DAGOR vehicles in addition to mission accessories, spare parts, and driver and maintainer training services, the announcement added.

Neither the ADF nor Polaris was able to confirm which units with the Australian armed forces would operate the DAGOR, a popular choice for special operations forces (SOF) around the world.

Current DAGOR customers include Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM), Sweden's Special Operations Group (SOG), Romanian SOF (ROMSOF), United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF), and United States Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

Defence sources told Janes they expect Australia's Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) to benefit the most from the latest tranche of DAGOR vehicles. The SOCOMD features a variety of units that could use the DAGOR, including the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) based on the west coast of Australia and 1st and 2nd commando regiments based on the east coast.

Janes understands a small but undisclosed number of DAGOR vehicles have been in service with Australian SOF since 2015 when they were purchased for test and evaluation.

In 2016 Australian SOF conducted ‘hot and dry' mobility trials in the United Arab Emirates as part of an effort to identify a suitable 4×4 tactical ground vehicle capable of being carried inside rotary- and fixed-wing tactical transport airframes.