Canada’s Roshel adds a new MRAP to its lineup

A Canadian armored vehicle manufacturer unveiled an image of a new mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle at CANSEC 2026 in Ottawa, revealing the full technical specifications of the Admiral MRAP, a jointly developed platform built in partnership with South African defense firm Panzer following Roshel’s acquisition of the KF411 MRAP design in 2024.

The Admiral represents Roshel’s entry into the heavier protected vehicle category, certified to NATO standards and built around a V-hull design, the distinctive angled underside geometry that deflects blast energy away from the crew compartment rather than allowing it to travel straight up through the vehicle floor.

The physics behind the V-hull are straightforward and lifesaving. When an improvised explosive device or anti-vehicle mine detonates beneath a flat-bottomed vehicle, the blast wave travels directly upward through the floor, transmitting lethal force directly to occupants. A V-shaped hull redirects that energy outward and to the sides, dramatically reducing the shock and fragmentation that reaches the crew. This design principle, proven across thousands of combat deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa, is what distinguishes a true MRAP from a standard armored truck, and it is the reason why the United States military invested billions of dollars replacing flat-bottomed humvees with V-hulled MRAPs after discovering the catastrophic difference in survivability during the Iraq War.

Roshel’s Admiral sits on a 6,135 mm (241 in) long, 2,644 mm (104 in) wide, 2,800 mm (110 in) tall platform with a 3,398 mm (134 in) wheelbase, dimensions that place it in the same general size class as the American MaxxPro and the South African RG-31, two of the most widely fielded MRAP variants globally. Ground clearance reaches up to 550 mm (21.7 in), a figure substantially higher than most commercial trucks and sufficient to provide meaningful separation between the vehicle floor and the ground where buried explosive devices are placed. The approach angle of 45 degrees and departure angle of 35 degrees ensure the vehicle can negotiate steep terrain features without grounding out the front or rear, which matters operationally because routes that offer tactical advantage in conflict zones are rarely the same routes that road engineers designed for comfort.

The 5.9-liter inline-six diesel engine producing 240 horsepower at 2,700 rpm and 597 lb-ft (809 Nm) of torque between 1,200 and 2,100 rpm provides the power needed to move an armored vehicle of this size across rough terrain at operationally useful speeds. The 6-speed automatic transmission reduces the cognitive and physical workload on the driver, who in a contact situation may also be managing communications, navigation, and threat awareness simultaneously. Fuel capacity reaches up to 230 liters (60.8 gallons), supporting an operational range of up to 545 km (339 miles), enough to conduct extended patrols or convoy escorts without refueling from forward logistics points that may not be reliably available in contested environments.

The Admiral seats nine passengers plus two crew in a 4×4 configuration, making it a squad-level transport capable of moving a full infantry section with full equipment. That seating capacity, combined with the V-hull blast protection and NATO certification, positions it in direct competition with vehicles like the Navistar International MaxxPro, the Oshkosh M-ATV, and the BAE Systems RG-33, all of which have served extensively in NATO operations. The Admiral’s NATO certification is not a marketing label but a tested and documented compliance with the standardization agreements that govern everything from ballistic protection levels to towing interfaces across alliance members, which matters for any nation that expects its vehicles to operate alongside allied forces or be supported through shared logistics chains.

Roshel’s path to the Admiral runs through its 2024 acquisition of the KF411 design from Panzer of South Africa, a company with deep roots in mine-protected vehicle development that stretches back to the bush wars of southern Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. South Africa developed mine-protected vehicle technology earlier and more extensively than almost any other nation, driven by the practical experience of losing soldiers to landmine attacks across Angola, Namibia, and Mozambique over decades of regional conflict. That engineering heritage, embedded in the KF411 design that Roshel acquired, gives the Admiral a technical pedigree that traces directly to operational experience with the specific threat it is designed to defeat.

Roshel’s decision to acquire and develop the KF411 rather than design a new MRAP from scratch reflects a practical calculation about time, cost, and risk. Developing a clean-sheet MRAP that meets NATO standards requires years of engineering work, expensive ballistic and blast testing, and the kind of iterative refinement that only comes from building on existing knowledge. The KF411 already embodied that knowledge. Roshel’s contribution has been to adapt the design for Canadian and NATO market requirements, integrate it with the company’s manufacturing and support infrastructure in Brampton, Ontario, and bring it to a customer base that includes both the Canadian Armed Forces and the growing number of allied nations looking for Canadian-built alternatives to American or European platforms.