The Birth of ARV In the late 1980s, various types of violent crimes continued to rise in the Greater London metropolitan area - taking robbery cases as an example, the crime rate nearly tripled compared to the same period in the 1970s.

The birth of ARV

In the late 1980s, various types of violent crimes continued to rise in the Greater London metropolitan area - taking robbery cases as an example, the crime rate nearly tripled compared to the same period in the 1970s.

▲SPG is designed to suppress riots and support the BOCU (Borough Operational Command Unit) of each municipality. An SPG patrol is usually equipped with several Smith & Wesson revolvers and a Savage pump-action shotgun. For front-line processing, SPG was reorganized into Territorial Support Team TSG (Territorial Support Team) in the late 1980s. Group)

In 1991, in order to make up for its shortcomings in emergency response capabilities, the London Metropolitan Police Department selected the first batch of about 90 police officers from the entire police force (a year later, the 50 second officers from the original PT17 were added again. A level armed police officer, the prototype of the professional armed police officer SFO), in the then Special Firearms Command PT17, an armed attack vehicle ARV with the internal code name Trojans Delta,

was set up for emergency response. (Armed Response Vehicle) to replace the SPG (Special Patrol Group) originally responsible for emergency response. On July 1, 1991, ARV was approved for official deployment on the streets of London.

▲ A group photo of the first batch of ARV police officers, taken at Lippits Hill training base

▲ The first officially deployed ARV, taken at East London Old Street operations base

IN THE 1990s —— PT17

Each ARV team usually has three armed police officers (during the PT17 period, the first-level armed police officers and the second-level armed police officers were mixed in shifts, and in the SO19 period, the AFO and SFO were mixed in shifts). The early attire is an Aegis or CPE bulletproof vest with a white work police uniform and a PWL 204/225 leather revolver holster and magazine holster.

▲ Early ARV equipment and watercolor propaganda posters

In the early days, each ARV team was equipped with three Smith & Wesson M10 revolvers (the equipment began to change two years later) Locke 17 semi-automatic pistol), the ammunition base is 12 rounds;

▲ Smith & Wesson M10 revolver

In addition to the navigator in the passenger seat, the remaining two police officers are also equipped with MP5s that can only fire semi-automatically SF A2 semi-automatic submachine gun to enhance firepower, with a base ammunition count of 45 rounds.

▲MP5 SF A2 submachine gun

Three Smith & Wesson M10 revolvers were locked on the gun rack between the driver's seat and the passenger seat, while two MP5 SF A2 semi-automatic carbines were placed in the back seat. Concealed in a gun cabinet and distributed by a backseat observer in an emergency.

Early ARVs implemented a separation system for guns and ammunition, which means that police officers with guns can only take out unloaded firearms and ammunition from the gun cabinet in an emergency. This also seriously affected the emergency response capabilities of the ARV. A typical The case was an armed robbery that occurred at the Clerkenwell Post Office - in the final confrontation, a police officer's revolver was loaded with only two rounds of ammunition, but fortunately, the robber finally put down his weapon and chose to surrender. .

▲ Concealed gun cabinet in the back seat

In the following months, senior officials of the London Metropolitan Police had to promulgate a new regulation: ARV teams were approved to carry concealed and loaded revolvers on duty. In 1994, the ARV team was once again approved to OpenCarry and openly carry firearms on duty.

Most ARV models during this period were Land Rover 827, Volvo 850GLT and Vauxhall Omega. Interestingly, the London Metropolitan Police once purchased a Ford Escape as an ARV model, but it was later eliminated due to its limited load capacity.

▲A training photo of an ARV team. The vehicle is a Vauxhall Omega. The police officer on the right is the instructor Sergeant. Julie - one of the first female police officers to volunteer to join the ARV team. She later died in a mountaineering accident in 2004.

Each ARV team has its own preferences: some like the sturdy body of the Land Rover 827, while others like the spacious space of the Volvo 850GLT. , and some people like the control feel of Vauxhall Omega.

According to statistics, the average response time of the ARV team in the greater London metropolitan area is 8 minutes. Although ARV drivers are required to pass advanced driving courses and implement eight-hour shifts, some ARV officers are still uncomfortable with the high-speed driving style of their colleagues. One newly hired ARV officer even complained publicly: Sometimes, A colleague driving an ARV while answering the radio may be more intimidating than a madman with a gun.

In 1995, due to frequent shootings of unarmed BOCU police officers in south London, SO19 began planning to expand the ARV team and set up an operational base in the south to divert some ARV teams to improve response speed. Eventually, the full ARV team was expanded to 297 people (including 11 inspectors, 30 sergeants and 256 police officers).

Part of the ARV team was also diverted to the temporary operating base at Lambeth Bridge (formerly the Medical Examiner's Office and Suspect Transfer Detention Facility), code-named Trojan South or Trojan 98 (the northern Old Street operating base code-named Trojan North or Trojan 99), now the South ARV The group's permanent base of operations. After the establishment of the early ARV team of

, cooperated with various BOCUs and SFO to directly participate in handling a series of gun-related cases and terrorist acts (Provisional Irish Republican Army, PIRA) in the 1990s.

Among the most famous operations are the Putney armed robbery on August 2, 1994, the Boxing Day hostage taking in 1994 and the Feltham shooting in 1999 (the most serious act of resistance the ARV team has encountered to date, A firearms enthusiast armed with two AR assault rifles, several grenades and a grenade launcher opened fire on the reinforcing ARV team. Fortunately, no one was injured).

▲ After the Feltham shooting, the police seized weapons and ammunition from the suspect’s home

Of course, there are also many overturns:

On November 1, 1991, an ARV team was dealing with an out-of-control mental patient in Acton. The suspect suddenly took out The suspect fired a bolt-action shotgun and directly hit a female ARV officer in the head (fortunately, the officer was only slightly injured). After the suspect's shotgun was immediately taken away by his father, the suspect I was shot and wounded by other ARV police officers present and subdued;

On November 12, 1999, an ARV team was investigating weapons smuggling in Victoria Park and shot and killed a man after mistaking a table leg for a sawn-off shotgun. Construction workers.

▲The table leg that was misjudged as a "cut off shotgun" by the ARV team

The early ARV teams soon contributed valuable experience to the establishment of ARVs in various county police agencies in the future, and also in the London metropolitan area. The firearms departments of the Metropolitan Police Department and various county police agencies have trained a large number of outstanding backbones - a considerable number of them have become SFO or firearms instructors, and some have entered the firearms departments of the London Metropolitan Police and various county police agencies as managers. , and their management and practical experience have laid a solid foundation for the future professionalization and efficiency of the firearms department (dense fog).

INTHE 2000s - SO19 & CO19

During this period, the ARV team experienced significant changes in terms of clothing, weapons, vehicles and organizational structure. The white work uniforms of the

ARV team in the 1990s were changed to the iconic blue work uniforms in the future to indicate that they belonged to a special unit (among the various firearms departments, only the Diplomatic Security Group SO6 still retained the white work uniforms) ).When performing on-site assault or training missions, they will also wear Derby Unitex's blue and black jumpsuits;

▲ An ARV team participating in a hostage rescue exercise, all wearing Derby Unitex's blue and black jumpsuits

Although the magazine The holster still uses the previous PWL 641 leather double pistol magazine holster and PWL 715 leather double MP5 magazine holster, but the original PWL 212/221/233 leather Glock holster was changed to the classic Safariland 6004 holster;

▲The ARV team investigating firearms smuggling in Brixton, the first and second police officers from the left Wearing Aegis Gen I bulletproof vest, the first and second police officers from the right are wearing Aegis Gen II bulletproof vest, photographed in August 2006

The bulletproof vest is still a mixture of the Aegis Gen I bulletproof vest from the last century and the Aegis GenII bulletproof vest with Buddy Lock buckle;

▲The ARV team handling a hostage-taking case , the police officer on the right wears Aegis SDH-3 helmet, the second police officer from the left is wearing the classic Big Red produced by Sigma Key breaking hammer, photographed in February 2006

Bulletproof helmets also began to be widely used during this period, and the models were mostly Aegis or AC900 series;

The abbreviation of the epaulette unit in the SO19 period was SO (the SO abbreviation has been handed over to today's PaDP). From the CO19 period to the MO19 period, the abbreviation of the epaulette unit is CO;

communication uses MTH800 with air duct headphones.

▲SO19’s early purchase of the X26 Taser

In January 2003, SO19 conducted a one-year trial of the X26 Taser stun gun as an experimental weapon. Although the ARV team only used the X26 Taser 14 times during the trial period, the trial effect of the X26 was so good that the London Metropolitan Police quickly purchased it for the ARV team and the SFO, while other units For example, BOCUs did not start to be installed slowly until 2008.

▲The ARV team using the X26 Taser in the exercise

It is worth mentioning that the X26 Taser purchased by SO19 for SFO and TST did not have an ammunition connector, and only the ARV team was equipped with it. The Taser quick-draw set during this period was not the BlackHawk in the future but the older PWL Taser quick-draw set.

▲PWL Taser leg quick release holster

During this period, the regular firearm of the ARV team was still the MP5 SF A2/A3 equipped with a SureFire gun light. What’s interesting is that these MP5 SF A2/A3s have almost never been equipped with sights (at least I haven’t seen any), but considering that even SFO didn’t start using EOTech and T1 on a large scale for its MP5SF A3 until about 2010. /T2 scope, it’s no wonder.

▲L104A1 grenade launcher

In 2002, the ARV team also fielded the L104A1 grenade launcher, which is usually operated by the co-pilot navigator.

In 2008, after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the Home Office and the London Metropolitan Police decided to purchase G36C SF semi-automatic carbines to enhance the firepower and emergency response capabilities of various firearms departments. The ARV team, as the main firearms unit in the greater London metropolitan area, was the first to receive it. A large number of G36C SF semi-automatic carbines, SFO probably received the G36CSF semi-automatic carbine in 2005, but they have no control over this batch of G36C The SF semi-automatic carbine has never attracted much interest and has never been used in actual combat.

▲ An ARV police officer holding an original G36C SF semi-automatic carbine. His Aegis vest does not have an attachment.

This batch of G36C SF semi-automatic carbines inherits the original "anti-humanity" enhanced combined optical sight and translucent 30mm Magazines are fired, and some G36C SF semi-automatic carbines are also equipped with SureFire gun lights. The ARV team’s G36C SF semi-automatic carbine was converted into a rail-mounted and flat-top receiver around 2012 and was equipped with an EOTech scope and KAC grip. However, other firearms departments such as PaDP are still equipped with a large number of original G36C SF semi-automatic carbines.

▲An ARV team holding a rail-mounted and flat-top receiver G36C SF semi-automatic carbine

▲PaDP AFO taken by the author’s friend during a trip to the UK last year. The police officer on the right is still wearing the original G36C SF semi-automatic carbine

During this period, ARV models also saw major changes - the previous Land Rover 827, Volvo 850GLT and Vauxhall Omega were changed to BMW 530D in 2005, and their livery also followed the classic Batten in the future. There are castle patterns and two round yellow reflective stickers on the windows, but the old-fashioned three-color blue, orange and yellow paint is still common until 2015.

▲The ARV team in 2006, the one on the left is in Battenberg plaid paint, the one on the right is in the old-fashioned blue, orange and yellow paint

▲A located on LemanStreet RV team base of operations, even in 2012 the ARV team re-purchased the BMW X5 as an ARV model, which still used the old blue, orange and yellow three-color paint

although the ARV team also used a small number of Land Rover Discovery and Land Cruiser as Unmarked police vehicles, but no livery Land Rover ARVs were deployed.

▲ Land Rover ARV, a subsidiary of SEG, photographed during US President Trump 's visit to the UK

In fact, the Battenberg plaid and the old-fashioned blue, orange and yellow three-color paint of the Land Rover Discovery and Land Cruiser that are common on the streets of London are SEG (Special Escort Group) of the Special Operations Department. During this period, the

ARV team established two groups of branch units internally, namely TPU (Trojan Proactive Units) and TST (Tactical Support Teams) to meet different task requirements. The

TPU was first established to carry out high-profile patrols in hotspot areas. It is also an ad hoc and small-scale unit, consisting of only 24 AFOs. Its members are often selected from regular ARV teams and are not fixed.

The first TST was first established in November 2004. Its members were experienced police officers from the ARV team. The purpose of its establishment was to divert the originally heavy workload of the SFO. Before the establishment of the TST, the SFO not only had to participate in the ARV During daily patrols and raids, he is also responsible for assisting CID and SO15 in surveillance and tracking activities.

▲Early TST undergoing vehicle stop exercise

The second TST was established in May 2005. Although SO19 initially planned to establish three to four TSTs, in the end due to selection process and funding issues, only two TSTs were established. 24 people in total.

▲The TST team conducting indoor penetration drills, the one on the right is wearing Derby Unitex’s blue and black jumpsuit and BHI Strike vest, and Aegis’ imitation PASGT helmet and Petz Co goggles are also equipped with Petzl headlights

▲ In response to the author’s friend’s FOI inquiry, TST has been confirmed to be disbanded

Two of the current ARV groups All TSTs have been disbanded (from an FOI from a friend of the author). The author infers that their disbandment date should be roughly after 2017, because it is no longer suitable for anti-terrorism operations (TST still participated in Operation Strong Tower in 2015), but TPU It is still retained (TPU also assisted BOCUs in a vehicle interception in May this year).

INTHE 2010s - SCO19 & MO19

During this period (more precisely before the 2017 Westminster terrorist attack), considering the financial pressure and the still relatively stable social security, although there were some adjustments, ARV The team still basically uses the clothing, weapons, vehicles and organizational structure of the CO19 period, revealing a strong mix and match style.

still wears a blue police uniform, and the bulletproof vest has been replaced by Aegis Gen II with the addition of Molle strips, Aegis Gen III, and Aegis Gen IV with a greatly simplified design. The Aegis Gen IV bulletproof vest is the biggest improvement compared to the previous generation. It simplifies the more complicated shoulder connection method of the previous generation (directly adopts a one-size-fits-all design) and installs a Molle bar to replace the previous Buddy Lock mount with a lower fit. Fire and ambulance departments in various British counties also have their derivative models. Aegis Gen IV first appeared during Operation Strong Tower on June 30, 2015, and was used by TST affiliated with SCO19 (see image below).

▲ TST conducting hostage rescue training, photographed during Operation Strong Tower in 2015

A fellow CTSFO appeared during the security operation at Wembley Stadium on November 30 of the same year. The police officer suspected to be the commander of the on-site team also wore this type Bulletproof vest. It is mainly used as a special unit bulletproof vest to replace Aegis Gen II and Aegis Gen III (Aegis Gen II with Molle strips). The author roughly infers that the replacement date of Aegis Gen III bulletproof vest should be around 2014. The main reason is that in 2013 When CTSFO went to the Netherlands to participate in the first ATLAS exercise, some CTSFO members were still wearing Aegis Gen II bulletproof vest; the

accessory package is not always the previous PWL. Various commercial accessory packages (iconic brass buckles) for Viper, 5.11 and Aegis have begun to be widely used. The ARV team also released the The 5.11 58633 Molle leg board was used for the first time in a security event at Lee Stadium to be mounted on a shunt vest;

▲A man equipped with Aegis Gen III's ARV police officer, photographed during a security operation at Wembley Stadium in 2015

▲5.1158633 Molle leg panels

The helmet is a mysterious mix and match, including the past AC900 series and the new Revison A3 Full Cut model, 2017 There was even a man wearing Aegis at the scene of the 2016 Westminster terror attack. SDH-3 ARV police officers (Aegis SDH-3 was mostly seen around 2000);

▲The ARV team that was dispatched after the 2017 terrorist attack on the Palace of Westminster. The helmet on the left in the first row is Revison A3 Full Cut, and finally The second helmet from the left in the row is Aegis SDH-3, the right helmet is AC900, the first row of left goggles is Bolle

communication is still the air duct headset and C3 non-communication version;

PWL Taser quick draw and X26 Taser gun are also gradually replaced by BlackHawk quick draw and X2 Taser, ARV team has withdrawn the original MP5 SF at this time The A2/A3 establishment has all been transferred to the second-tier firearms departments such as PaDP and RaSP. Instead, SIG 516 SF and SIGMCX SF were purchased in 2012 and 2015, and all employees were completely converted to semi-automatic rifles.

▲ An ARV police officer who was dispatched after the 2017 Palace of Westminster terrorist attack. Interestingly, he did not seem to be carrying a handcuff bag. He only used a belt buckle to fix the TCH 840 handcuffs on his chest

▲General For example, the ARV team typically refers to the Axon Flex The body camera is fixed to the chest or the Axon Flex is fixed to the back of the helmet using Velcro and a Peter Jones buckle.

In 2018, London's Metropolitan Police confirmed the future ARV team's new attire during a routine public display: ARV Team The blue work uniforms were eventually replaced by the G3 version of the combat uniforms, and the blue work uniforms that had been used for nearly seventeen years were only retained in summer.

London ARV's combat uniform is entirely made of CP G3 black combat uniforms - but part of the black combat uniforms used by ARV members in other parts of the UK are police version Ubac Shirts produced by SOLO.

▲Routine display of the ARV team in 2018. Both the right and left arms have Velcro stickers indicating their affiliation and police number

▲SOLO police version Ubac Shirt

▲An ARV police officer who looks like Mike Shinoda, wearing a G3 black combat uniform, photographed on February 2, 2020

▲The ARV team is currently investigating the possession of illegal firearms. Photographed on June 1, 2020

The above is the relevant introduction of the ARV team from its establishment in 1991 to the present. Please correct me if there are any mistakes. I hope this article can help those who want to contact Players from the London Metropolitan Police ARV Team were helpful, and a special thanks goes to all TK121. w