THE final batches of an urgently needed vehicle are being delivered to Afghanistan thanks to work at Bovington Camp.

The Warthog was bought after deadly experience showed its forerunner, the Viking, had too little armour to survive blasts by improvised mines.

The final deliveries will be made in March and soldiers are still working on improvements at the base’s Armour Trials Development Unit.

The Warthogs are a heavily modified version of a vehicle built by Singapore Technologies, and when equipped with full armour weigh around 18.5 tonnes, five more than the Viking.

The Echo was invited to the camp in 2008 to hear how well the new Viking was performing, shortly before its shortcomings were exposed by the increase in roadside bomb attacks.

So could the same thing happen to the Warthog?

Warthog trial officer Captain Chris Ironside, 32, from New Milton, Hampshire said: “It doesn’t matter how much protection you put on a vehicle, if someone puts a big enough bomb under it, you have got a problem.

“But there’s not been one destroyed by the Taliban to date.”

Adam Richards, 21, from the Queen’s Royal Hussars, who is training before his unit deploys in the autumn, said: “I’ve driven a Viking, and Warthog is slower but there’s a lot more protection.

“That makes you a bit happier.” The driver and commander sit in the front section with the 350-horse power engine, and up to eight troops sit in the air conditioned rear compartment.

The army bought 100 of the vehicles and the first arrived in Afghanistan in September.

The team at Bovington felt a ‘massive’ responsibility to test the vehicle quickly but to also make sure it was ready for action.

Warrant Officer 1st class Tony Longbottom said: “It’s saved lives in theatre, where if the men had been in Viking, they wouldn’t have survived.”