Tracklink Article -  The Laird Centaur

(This article first appeared in Issue 107 (Autumn 2020) of Tracklink, the magazine of the Tank Museum.  The photos used in the original article belong to the Tank Museum, so I have used public domain photos here)

Half-tracks were popular as military vehicles during the Second World War, since they offered a good compromise between the low cost and low maintenance burden of a wheeled vehicle and the better cross country mobility of a fully tracked vehicle.  However, they generally disappeared in the post war years, as 4WD vehicles became increasingly capable.

It was therefore something of a surprise when Laird Engineering of Anglesey launched a new half-track military vehicle in 1978, based on Landrover and CVR (T) Scorpion light tank components.

The first 6 Centaur prototypes used the front half of a Series 3 109in LWB Landrover, with a new rear chassis incorporating a shortened set of rubber padded CVR (T) tracks and drive sprocket, with 3 smaller roadwheels rather than the 5 on the standard Scorpion.  

It was powered by the 3.5 litre V8 petrol engine developed for the Range Rover, which was only just appearing as an option for the standard Landrover.  This drove both the front wheels and rear tracks, which had standard Scorpion torsion bar suspension.  The prototypes had standard tyres, though Tyron run-flat tyres would have been fitted to production vehicles.

The new chassis widened out aft of the Landrover bonnet, with the front passenger doors at an angle rather than flat and the wider rear cargo bed had over twice the space of the standard LWB Landrover.  Weight carrying capacity was also increased by the tracked suspension, and the unladen 3,880 kg vehicle could carry roughly 3 tons of cargo, for a total laden weight of 7,000 kg.

The gear box was the standard Range Rover four speed with transfer box for high / low ratios, giving 8 forward and two reverse speeds.  Top speed was around 50 MPH (80 km/h) on roads, though cross country speed varied.  Army drivers who tested the Centaur found it easy to drive without special training, though they criticised the rather bumpy ride and poor turning circle - the tracks tried to push the vehicle forward no matter what direction the front wheels were pointing.

Cross country mobility was good, with low ground pressure and excellent ditch crossing – the Centaur could cope with ditches up to 2.5m wide, as weight was over the rear tracks and thus the front wheels didn’t drop into the gap even if unsupported.

One complaint was that it was notably noisy for the driver, especially since at higher speeds the tracks could bounce up and hit the bodywork.

The first three prototypes were right hand drive, the second three were left hand drive for export sales.  All were initially built as soft tops, though one (P3) was rebuilt as a hardtop communications vehicle, and all had a standard towing hitch at the rear.

Development started in 1977, with the first prototype being shown at the British Army Equipment Exhibition in 1978.  Laird intended production to start in 1979, planning to make 75 vehicles in the first year and 120 each subsequent year.  

Low cost of purchase and ease of maintenance and driver training were obviously key factors, with the base model selling for £35,000 (roughly £200,000 in 2020 money) without special equipment.  

Marketing thus tended to focus on smaller armies in the third world, as the distribution of prototypes shows.  P1 was Laird’s test machine, and had completed 3,000 miles by the end of testing in the UK before being sent to Norway for winter trials.  It was then finally sent to Libya as a sales demonstrator.

P2 went to Nigeria and then Kenya on a sales tour.  It was later restored and both this and P3 are now in a private collection in the UK.

P3 was the sole hardtop variant, and was fitted with various HF / UHF radios, communications gear and Plessey sound ranging counter battery equipment before being converted back to soft top configuration.

P4 went to Oman, where the Sultan insisted on paying for it. It was rumoured to have later later fitted with an Chevy 5.7 litre V8 and an automatic gearbox, but the author has been unable to confirm this

P5 went to the UK Ministry of Defence for a variety of testing, including the mine-laying trials described below.  It was also used as a sales demonstrator in the Middle East, and fitted at various times with several different 20mm cannon.  It is currently in the Tank Museum.

 P6 went to Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE.  

A final seventh prototype  built in 1979 using the front end of the later Landrover 110 was sent to Iraq for trials in 1980.  It was never returned, but was found in a scrapyard there in 2005, and returned to the UK for restoration.

Proposed Variants

Laird produced brochures with artist’s impressions of various configurations, several of which were never actually built.

- A soft top  General Service version capable of acting as a troop carrier (13 men including driver), a patrol vehicle with multiple pintel mount GPMGs, palletised stores carrier, artillery tractor for the 105mm light gun, or a carrier for an 81mm mortar or 120mm Wombat recoilless rifle plus crew.

- A box body version capable of being configured as a command / communications vehicle or an ambulance carrying four stretcher cases plus an orderly in addition to the driver.  The stretchers pivoted into bench seats for less severe casualties

- A light AA version mounting a choice of 20mm cannon.  The prototype version was modified to carry either a 20mm Oerlikon feeding from 60rd drum or a 20mm Rheinmetall Rh202 feeding from a 200rd belt.

- A light APC carrying 8 dismount infantry plus 3 crew, and armed with either a ring mount or a small GPMG turret.  None were built, and the stated 5mm armour level seems rather light even to be small arms resistant

British Army Testing

The British Army tested an example at the Military Vehicle Experimental Establishment (MVEE) at Chertsey, which gave it a very positive assessment.  It was also fitted with studded Dunlop trakgrip tyres and studded tracks  before being sent to Norway for winter trials with the 17/21st lancers, again performing well.

The problem was that while users liked the vehicle, the Army didn’t have an obvious requirement for it, or a role not already filled by existing vehicles.

One potential role was to replace Landrovers in the engineer squadrons of non-mechanised units, and in particular for mine laying, which remained an important sapper task until the end of the Cold War.  

The main British anti-tank mine of the time was the non-metallic 11kg Bar Mine.  These could be laid rapidly using a plough towed behind a FV432 APC, which both buried the mine and covered it again as the vehicle moved.  The APC’s troop compartment held a stock of mines and a couple of engineers who fed them down a chute to the plough.

Meanwhile, the same FV432 carried a roof-mounted launcher for Ranger scatterable anti-personnel mines, each the size of a shoe-polish tin and intended to hamper enemy engineers trying to clear the Bar Mines.  The launcher held 72 tubes, each loaded with 18 mines (1,296 mines total) and a small propellant charge that would throw the small mines from 50 to 250 metres when fired.

The two systems combined to allow defensive minefields to be laid very quickly, and worked well in mechanised units where they were carried by FV432s.  However, non-mechanised units without FV432s struggled to use these systems.  In particular, the towed bar mine layer had a draw weight of 10,000kg or more depending on conditions.  It was thus too heavy for a Landrover, which also struggled to carry a sufficient stock of bar mines.

The Centaur was tested for the role by 9 Parachute Sqn RE in Exercise TOWBAR, and performed well.  It was able to pull the bar mine layer even on heavy soil, and had plenty of weight and space for extra mines.

Alternatively, it could carry a Ranger launcher plus 4 reloads of mines.  However, it could not do both at once, as the Ranger unit left no space for the men operating the towed mine layer, since it was fitted in the cargo bed of the Centaur rather than on the roof as in the FV432.

However, the Army was reluctant to purchase the vehicle for such a specialised role, even though it only used spares which were already in the supply chain

The end of the project

.Despite the initial interest, no military orders materialised and Laird closed down the project in 1980.  The MOD test vehicle (P5) and the 110 version (P7) ended up at The Tank Museum, where they are held in the VCC.

During the test programme, towing a bar mine layer