The Singapore Armed Forces has added a commercially available sports utility vehicle (SUV) to its arsenal, the Straits Times reported Tuesday, Aug 31.

Several units of the Rexton, an SUV produced by South Korean manufacturer Ssangyong and powered by a Mercedes Benz engine, have been fitted with bomb detection devices and sophisticated communications gear for the army's use.

Singapore's defence ministry told the newspaper that an off-the-shelf SUV has some advantages over custom-made military vehicles -- competitive prices, shorter delivery time and readily available spares.

It also noted that the technological gap between all-terrain SUVs and dedicated military vehicles has narrowed in recent years, not to mention the multi-role capabilities of civilian transport.

When not responding to bomb or chemical-weapon threats, the white Rextons can be deployed for mundane jobs like transporting staff, and they will certainly blend into the urban jungle more easily than a camouflaged jeep.

SUVs have become highly popular in Singapore and other Asian cities but are largely used to ferry families and groceries rather than cross rivers, claw up rocky hillsides -- or protect homeland security.

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