A SWAT vehicle, also known as an armoured rescue vehicle, a vehicle used by police tactical units to respond to incidents. These are often non-military armored vehicles which offer protection to the passengers and can additionally be used to transport specialized equipment such as weapons and breaching tools.
Production
A SWAT vehicle may simply be an unarmored van, SUV or truck used to transport equipment or officers or used as a command post. Other more specialized vehicles may be armoured personnel carriers to allow them to be in situations where armed confrontation is likely. Early versions of the SWAT vehicles were based on production vans such as the International Harvester Metro Vans. Specialized heavy-duty commercial vehicles can be up-fitted and built solely as SWAT Vehicles, such as the Ballistic Armored Tactical Transport from The Armored Group, LLC; Mesa, Arizona currently operates one of these vehicles. The Lenco BearCat is another of these such vehicles built upon a commercial Ford F550 chassis. Lenco BearCats are currently used by various agencies such as the LAPD, NYPD and Australian Police Tactical Groups. Ambulances and armored trucks can also be converted into SWAT vans or trucks. De-militarized Armored Personnel Carriers can be used for this purpose, as is the case with the police department of Phoenix, Arizona which uses an M113 APC as part of its inventory or the Florida Highway Patrol, which has 3 Cadillac-Gage V-150s. in Germany
Due to the occurrence in history, armoured police vehicles are used since the period after World War I by Germanpolice forces, when more than hundred armoured SWAT vehicles, so called "Sonderwagen" were maintained. Nowadays the Federal Police and the state police forces still maintain armoured vans, like Sonderwagen 4 and Sonderwagen 5. The Federal police recently also ordered the LAPV Enok in addition to its Mowag Eagle and ATF Dingo. The SEK special state police units use armored vehicles like the LAPV Enok and the Survivor R
Japan
s have been operating some series of Armoured bus, mainly used as mobile shelters and barriers. And in addition to them, more heavily-armored vehicles called Special Armored Vehicles were introduced in the 1960s. The first deployed model was called Type F-3, based on Mitsubishi's cab-after-engine trucks. They were initially treated as idlers because there are only few reports of gun violence in Japan, but they were highly appreciated during the Asama-Sansō incident in 1972 and their significance were widely recognized. After several model changes, Type PV-2 based on the Mitsubishi Fuso Canter is now deployed nationwide, mainly for Anti-firearms squads. There are also simplified version called Special Police van, and much larger Heavy Special Armored Vehicle; the latter is dedicated to the Special Assault Teams.
SWAT units may also employ ARVs for insertion, maneuvering, or during tactical operations such as the rescue of civilians, officers, firefighters, and/or military personnelpinned down by gunfire. Helicopters may be used to provide aerial reconnaissance or even insertion via rappelling or fast-roping. To avoid detection by suspects during insertion in urban environments, SWAT units may also use modified buses, vans, trucks, or other seemingly normal vehicles. During the 1997 North Hollywood shootout, LAPD SWAT commandeered an armored cash-delivery truck, which they used to extract wounded civilians and officers from the raging firefight with the heavily armed bank robbers.
