Defenture B.V.

Defenture was set up in Tiel in 2013 by Gerard Rond around a single engineering idea: build a light military vehicle from a central spine chassis instead of a ladder frame, and hang everything else off it as a module. The original consortium included VDL Groep and the Dutch composite maker TenCate, since absorbed into Toray Advanced Composites, and the design work was done alongside the Dutch armed forces rather than pitched to them afterwards. The result was the GRF 5.12, a platform with a stainless steel central chassis, corrosion-resistant bodywork, independent suspension and optional four-wheel steering, intended to carry a family of very different bodies on identical running gear.

The air transportable tactical vehicle built on that platform is what the Royal Netherlands Army calls the VECTOR. It weighs 4.7 tonnes gross, carries a 1.4 tonne payload, can be optionally armoured, and is sized to roll into a CH-47 Chinook or a comparable transport aircraft with tie-down points for road, rail, sea and air movement. Netherlands Special Operations Command took 75 of them for the Korps Commandotroepen, and in December 2022 the 11th Airmobile Brigade ordered a further 41. Trials have run well beyond the Netherlands. Armasuisse in Switzerland evaluated a demonstrator under the LAUF 20 designation, and prototypes have been supplied to the German Bundeswehr for testing. The same platform supports pickup, logistics and ambulance configurations, which is the point of the modular approach.

Two other vehicles fill out the range. MAMMOTH is a heavier multirole combat platform taking gross weight up to about 8.8 tonnes, aimed at users who want the same modularity with more protection and payload. SCORPION 6.6 is a tactical diesel quad developed with W-Tec, four-wheel drive with four-wheel steering, for moving small teams and stores where nothing larger fits. The Netherlands Ministry of Defence ordered 249 of them, a volume that says more about the vehicle's fit with light infantry and airmobile work than any brochure could. Weapon fits go through a Defenture ring mount compatible with .50 calibre machine guns, 7.62mm weapons and automatic grenade launchers.

The company is small, privately held and still based at Biezenwei in Tiel, working to ISO 9001:2015 and the NATO quality standard AQAP 2110. The house phrase for the approach is the Defenture Modular Design Principle, meaning one set of running gear scaled and re-bodied across roles rather than separate vehicles per task. Its business is vehicle design and low-rate assembly rather than mass production, with engineering, prototyping, testing and through-life support sold alongside the hardware. What sets it apart from larger competitors is that it targets a narrow band, the weight class between a quad and a protected patrol vehicle, where helicopter and parachute delivery set the rules. The rise of air assault and special operations requirements across European armies since 2022 has been kind to that niche, and Defenture's demonstrator campaigns in Switzerland and Germany reflect it.