The Daimler Ferret was a replacement for the Daimler Dingo and its contemporaries of WW2 vintage. A staggering 4409 were built and serve all over the world in many forms. This post will talk about the Mk2/6.
VEHICLE HISTORY
The vast multitude of armoured and scout cars built for the Second World War were slated to be replaced and in 1947 a requirement was issued, Daimler won the contract, thanks in no small part to the success of the Daimler Dingo scout car. It was developed in 1949 and a prototype was produced in 1950 and they entered service two years later in 1952.
The Ferret shares many similarities with its predecessor the Dingo such as a H-form drive train which helps lower the height of the vehicle. It is fitted with a water cooled 4.26 litre Rolls-Royce B.60 petrol engine generating 130 bhp at 3750 rpm, the gear box is a 5-speed pre-selector gearbox with all gears available in reverse as well as forward. It can achieve a maximum speed of 58mph.
With its improved power-to-weight ratio and longer wheelbase it improves over the Dingo over broken ground in both speed and mobility.
The Mk2 added a .30 calibre Browning machine gun (later a GMPG) in a one-man traversable turret at the cost of one crew member and increasing the height of the vehicle.
ARMAMENT & ARMOUR
The Ferret is armoured with 6-16mm steel plate all around and has 6 forward-mounted smoke dischargers to facilitate a quick getaway.
The armament of the Mk2/6 is a pair of Vigilant wire-guided ATGMs as well as the original .30 calibre machine gun located in the turret. The Vigilants were mounted in boxes to the sides of the turret allowing them to fire in a 360° arc. Two reloads are stored in a box on the left side of the vehicle, replacing a spare wheel.
The Vigilant ATGM has a maximum range of 1.375km which it reaches in about 12.5 seconds achieving an average speed of 110m/s. Due to the launchers angling of 20° it is reckoned that the missile has a minimum range of just less than 100m.
In testing the missile penetrated 576mm of 30-35 HRC hardness armour.
SPECIFICATIONS
Crew
2
Weight
3.7t
Length
3.7m
Width
1.91m
Height
1.88m
Engine
Rolls-Royce B60 6L
Power
130bhp @ 3750rpm
Top speed
58mph
Armament(s)
1 x 30. Cal MG, 2 x Vigilant ATGM
Ammunition
at least 3 boxes of .30 Cal, 2 spare Vigilant ATGMs
The issues with this and the swingfire ferret is the simple lack of ammunition in combination with the single small calibre machine gun, it just kind of makes them a subpar carrier. I think they are cool, but there are plenty of other carriers that forfil the same role and are better like the MCT i have suggested for example, or the Warrior equipt with the quad hot compact turret
It just seems like a worse option of things we have, the fox milan mct or swingfire is another example, they would be kind of cool, but there are just better options to be added
If it is about the Ferret armored car being represented ingame, there have been made the following suggestion, about the Ferret 80. It is a Ferret armored car with a 20mm auto cannon.
Bit of a necro I know but deffo want to see this in WT, imagine gangs of these running around with foxes, the utter fear Brit flags in the stat screen will cause!
