A branch of the British military has recently taken ownership of a whole fleet of Lynx Brutal snowmobiles, according to a story from a leading defense industry media source.
The Washington, D.C.-based Defense Post website reported on March 17 that the UK Royal Marines Commando Force recently received 159 new Lynx-branded snowmobiles to help in their efforts to patrol the Arctic.
The so-called “Lynx Brutal Over Snow Reconnaissance Vehicles” were a part of an $11 million purchase that was first announced in April of 2024, with planned delivery right about now – in March of 2025. However, the website for the U.K.’s Royal Navy reported that some of the vehicles started arriving in January of 2025. The purchase price includes adaptations to the vehicle plus ongoing support.
“This is a very important investment in the Commando Force’s Special Operations capability in the High North, at a strategically significant time,” Brigadier Chris Haw is quoted as saying in the Defense Post article. “This is yet another cutting-edge capability enhancement as part of a wider transformation programme (sic) providing a more sophisticated and specialist force to Defence (sic).”
The Royal Navy story explained, “The ability to survive and war-fight in extreme environments has always been a core and unique skillset delivered by the UK Commando Force. With Russia increasingly willing to assert influence, the addition of these more powerful snowmobiles enables Commandos to be more agile and to carry heavier loads over more challenging snow terrain.”
This certainly isn’t the first time that more robust, military-grade snowmobiles have been sought by various governments’ defense departments for use in the far north. In fact, our own David Wells documented in a story a few years ago how snowmobile development actually received a boost around 1939-40 when Finland and Russia were battling in the so-called “Winter War.”
More recently, Polaris announced a year ago the U.S. Defense Department’s purchase of 2025 Military 650 TITAN 155 and 2025 Military 850 PRO RMK 155 snowmobiles. Much like the recently delivered Lynx Brutal models, the widetrack machines were desired for their floatation off-trail, as these are intended to be zoomed down trails!
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UK with Lynx is much smarter than US with Polaris sleds.