The strange vehicle in the California terrorist attack? It was an Armored Deployment Platform!

Image and story via Guns.com

The Rook, a converted Caterpillar track loader with rubber tracks, cameras, joy stick controls and gun ports, is armored to NIJ Level IV specs– capable of withstanding hits from .30-06 M2 armor-piercing rounds.

It uses an Armored Deployment Platform to allow officers to be pushed to the scene of an incident or, if needed, boosted to up to 11 feet to a second floor of a structure, all while behind both cover and concealment.

As noted by the manufacturer, “In a vehicle takedown, the platform can also be slanted downward so shots can be fired into a car without endangering pedestrians or other passersby.”

Simply amazing.  I saw this a few years ago but quite honestly dismissed the company as a fly by nite that wouldn't get the time of day.

Little did I know.

Good work by Guns.com to puzzle this together.  I noticed this vehicle but didn't know what I was looking at (we did have an aerial view so I'll use that as my excuse).