Saving Western aid: Ukraine’s new armored recovery tractor can haul 30-ton MRAP off battlefield

Ukraine has a new armored tow truck built to drag wrecked MRAPs out of the kill zone. The Defense Ministry has codified the Ukrainian armored recovery tractor INGUAR-4 and cleared it for use in the Defense Forces, the Defense Ministry announced.

The INGUAR-4 exists to recover the armored vehicles Ukraine cannot afford to lose. It is designed to quickly evacuate most special armored vehicles of Ukrainian and foreign make from the battlefield, and can pull the Inguar-3, the Canadian Roshel Senator, the Turkish Kirpi, the Ukrainian "Kozak," "Novator," and "Gyurza," the American International MaxxPro, and other machines weighing up to 30 tons.

It shares its components with the Inguar-3 MRAP, which has logged years of frontline service after young engineers from the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute developed it and the Azov Brigade tested it in Luhansk Oblast, but adds a reinforced frame, an extra drive axle, a powerful winch, and a hydraulic system for lifting and recovery.

Wheels beat tracks for pulling armor out fast

The INGUAR-4's advantage is that it is wheeled, whereas most recovery vehicles are tracked. During testing, it demonstrated its ability to recover armor under difficult combat conditions and offers advantages over the tracked combat recovery vehicles commonly used in the Defense Forces.

Those advantages are about speed and cost. The INGUAR-4 moves faster on public roads, has a greater range, requires no trailer for transport, costs less to operate and maintain, is quieter, and tires out its crew less over long periods of use, the Defense Ministry says. 

It has a 6×6 wheel formula built for heavy work. Due to its powerful engine and design, the INGUAR-4 achieves higher top speed and mobility than 8×8 wheeled recovery vehicles, including Ukraine's own BREM-3BR and BREM-4M, as well as the Canadian LAV Super Bison.

The armor protects the crew that does the recovering

Recovery crews work under fire, so the INGUAR-4 is built to protect them. The vehicle has multilayer armor of Armox steel and aluminum elements meeting STANAG 4569 Level 3, blast-protected seats, an automatic fire-suppression system, heated armored glass, and non-flammable interior materials.

Nearly 60% of the INGUAR-4's chassis and suspension components are manufactured in Ukraine, and the first vehicles are already performing tasks in the Defense Forces. That domestic content matters for the same reason the whole vehicle does: a war fought on armored vehicles, Ukraine struggles to replace its needs with the means to recover the ones it has, built from parts Ukraine can make itself.

Recovery is the unglamorous half of keeping armor in the fight

The INGUAR-4 joins a fast-expanding family of Ukrainian armored vehicles and the wider push to keep Western and domestic equipment running. Ukraine codified the Gyurza-2 and the drone-proofed MAC OWL "Sova" MRAP in June 2026, and the Inguar line alone now spans the Inguar-3 MRAP, the Inguar-7 infantry fighting vehicle concept, and this recovery variant. 

A damaged armored vehicle recovered is one that is repaired and returned to service rather than written off; in a war of attrition, it is worth nearly as much as a new one.