It is true that armored cars were first introduced for militaries. We saw them in proper action during the first world war. They were again used quite commonly during the second world war. This time, they had seen drastic improvements and were now more common on the battlefield than before. Since then, armored vehicles have become common in almost every army around the world. In fact, their versatility is such that many air forces and navies, para military forces also commonly use them. Today, you even find them being used by law enforcement agencies. You may have seen police using heavily modified and modern looking armored vehicles as well. The popularity is at an increase all the time and we now have commercial armored vehicles, like cash in transit vehicles for sale in automobile market. So, what makes an armored vehicle commercial or military? Is it the design and make, or the price? It turns out that despite similar looks, both genres of armored cars have a number of differences. Here you will find some notable differences:
Features
There are several notable differences between your commercial and military armored cars. For instance, you will find that the military armored complies with military standards including STANAG levels etc. This is usually not the case with commercial armored cars. Though they also comply with standards such as ballistic protection, but those don’t meet military standards. The difference of standards is deliberate as commercial vehicles are unlikely to be tested in the battlefield ever, as they are built for urban environment.
Ammunition
It is quite visible that commercial armored cars are not designed to have pre-fitted ammunition. In case of military, armored cars are designed to have at least one or two machine guns, and grenade launchers. Though the specification of every armored car/ personnel carrier are different, most of these are lightly armored. Another category known as infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) is essentially an APC with weapons equipped on it. This armored weaponized car is designed to confront integrated enemy columns and lightly armored vehicles. They are weaponized heavily if they are to face tanks and other heavy armored opponents.
Your armored car may not have the weapons, but within the city, you don’t need them. At best, you can keep the licensed weapon with you that is legally allowed.
See this here to learn more about notable differences between military and civilian armored cars.
