Police (“Public Security”) Zoo

Rhinoceros, Jackal or Giraffe? No, this is not an invitation to a zoo. In 1984, the Scientific Development Department of the Federal Directorate of Public Security was tasked to design new vehicles that the police could use in actions against offenders of serious criminal acts, mass protests and demonstrations. The objective was to put into service special armoured vehicles that would enable the frontline and emergency police units to make a quick, focused and effective action and also provide maximum possible protection to the staff of these units.

The Scientific Development Department of the Federal Directorate of Public Security was instructed to open up a file codenamed Panther for a project to develop a universal action vehicle codenamed Rhinoceros and a commandment vehicle codenamed Jackal. An intermediate, and later the main task also included an armoured multi-purpose high-lift platform codenamed Giraffe.

The Rhinoceros vehicle was designed to transport 24 police in full arms and equipment to the place of action. It was also supposed to provide sufficient protection to the intervening staff and shelter from firearm bullets. Rhinoceros was designed as a vehicle for any terrain including built-up areas.

The Jackal vehicle was to be equipped with the latest technology and secure the commandment work. It was supposed to provide optimum conditions for the commanders whose units were intervening against the culprit, a group of culprits or demonstrators.

The Giraffe platform was designed to provide sufficient room for the observation of the place of intervention, a sheltered place for snipers, and the possibility to transfer the action unit into higher storeys or an airplane. It was to be equipped with the new Squid water gun. Due to high financial demands of the whole Panther task, the water gun was later replaced with Hydromil II water gun of Polish production. The Squid water gun was to continue after 1990.

The technical part of Jackal and Rhinoceros was to be produced by Konstrukta Trencin (Slovakia), but the preparatory work was not completed before 1986 although this was a technical development task of special importance. There were problems with the deliveries of T-815 chassis on which these vehicles were to be built. All the work on the Panther project continuously faced a high number of technical issues as well as lack of finances. Only a few units of Jackal were planned to be manufactured, while Rhinoceros was supposed to replace the obsolete OT 64 vehicles which were used by the Czech Ministry of the Interior (39 units in 1986) and Slovak Ministry of the Interior (28 units).

The development stage was completed in 1988. Load tests were planned to be carried out until 1990, with only a few prototypes made for the purpose. If all the tests had been successful, serial production of Rhinoceros and the platform would have started in 1993, and Jackal in 1994.

The archival materials contain many construction and design drawings and sketches, technical specifications and plans, assessments, contracts and many other documents.

Source: ABS, Federal Directorate of Public Security, Department of Structural Protection and Technical Development, code FS-10, call no. 140.