Jaguar is now a-days busy giving final touches to its new armored special protection vehicle, the Jaguar XJ Sentinel, slated to be unveiled at the 2010 Moscow International Motor Show scheduled from Aug 25 – 29. The armored XJ is based on the long-wheelbase XJ, whose aluminium structure allows it what Jaguar terms a ‘very generous’ payload of 500kg – despite the armor protection taking the vehicle’s weight up to a distinctly beefy 3.3 tons.
The company promises the Jaguar XJ Sentinel is virtually indistinguishable from the standard XJ model, while offering B7 levels of ballistic protection. What does B7-level armor mean? The ability to withstand the blast of up to 30 pounds of TNT-equivalent explosive at close range, for one. The car’s armor consists of specialized high-strength steels with Kevlar backing built on top of the existing aluminum chassis. It can also withstand almost any sort of small arms fire, including armor piercing rounds from most light machine guns.
The Jaguar XJ Sentinel is powered by a 5.0-litre 385PS AJ-V8 Gen III naturally aspirated direct-injection V8 petrol engine coupled with a six-speed automatic transmission. The armored Jaguar XJ Sentinel develops 385 PS (283 kW) and 515 Nm (380 lb-ft) of torque. The official performance figures of the armored Jaguar XJ Sentinel say it can get from 0 to 0 to 62 mph in 9.7 seconds and up to a top speed of 121 mph.
There’s no word on price yet, but expect to pay a significant premium for the Jaguar XJ Sentinel over the standard car. This shouldn’t be too much of a concern to the typical customer, though.