Land Rover’s Project Hero is go

There is a certain “International Rescue” element to this bespoke Land Rover Discovery that Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations ( SVO) has created for the Austrian Red Cross. It looks like something straight out of the mind of creator Gerry Anderson.

SVO is an engineering division within Jaguar Land Rover, usually focused more on horsepower than hospitals ( the SVO team’s most recent creation was a more powerful show- off specification Range Rover Sport). But as with other SVO creations, this Discovery features plenty of surprise details under the skin.

It is known as Project Hero and Land Rover refers to the off- roader as an “advanced communication vehicle”. Based on the new Discovery 5, the vehicle

Thunderbirds’s

features a roof- mounted drone, which can land on a fully integrated pad featuring self- centring and magnetic retention technology. Yes, that’s right; the drone can land on the Discovery even when the vehicle is driving up a mountain at speed.

When the drone is airborne, live footage can be transmitted to Red Cross emergency response teams to help them react more quickly to disasters like landslides, earthquakes or floods.

Additionally, the Disco features reinforced work platforms inside, bright LED lights to help the driver see in hazy conditions and multi- channel communications devices.

All that appears to be missing are the holes in the roof above the driver and passenger seats through which to thread strings attached to Scott and Virgil Tracy.