The SandCat is a composite armored vehicle designed by the then Plasan Sasa of Israel. The SandCat was shown publicly for the first time at AUSA during October 2005. The latest models were shown for the first time at Eurosatory 2018. The SandCat is based on a commercial Ford F-Series chassis. Approximately 700 SandCats have been produced since 2004, and while Plasan has never released complete details, these are known to be in service with at least 16 users across five continents, and in a wide variety of roles that range from Police/internal security to combat/patrol.
Plasan SandCat at the military parade in Baku.
There have been four generations of the SandCat. The first-generation were mainly prototypes, this is the original prototype.
Sweden received a small quantity of first-generation SandCats during 2008 in an eight-seat station wagon configuration for a Police/SWAT-type role.
A Bulgarian 2nd generation SandCat Utility. In terms of styling the second-generation SandCat is the most varied and a variety of configurations can be seen.
Composite armour is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different materials such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. Most composite armours are lighter than their all-metal equivalent, but instead occupy a larger volume for the same resistance to penetration. It is possible to design composite armour stronger, lighter and less voluminous than traditional armour, but the cost is often prohibitively high, restricting its use to especially vulnerable parts of a vehicle. Its primary purpose is to help defeat high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) projectiles.
The Soviet T-64 was the first mass-produced tank with composite armour
The Leclerc tank is equipped with NERA (Non-explosive reactive armour)
Plasan SandCat light (5t) military vehicle featuring integrated composite armoured body
The British Army's Challenger 2 main battle tank uses Chobham armour.
