by THOMAS NEWDICK

To the soldiers who rode inside, it was the “armored bread van.” At least, that was one of its politer nicknames. More prosaically, it was the AT105 Saxon.

For much of the Cold War, the Saxon armored personnel carrier served as a troop taxi for the British Army. One of the most awkward-looking post-war fighting vehicles to enter service, the Saxon could conceivably have been a refugee from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.

It’s not hard to see why—the Saxon was simply a steel troop-carrying hull bolted onto a truck chassis. The result is a boxy vehicle that looks like an armored pig.

But it’s an armored pig that once served a highly practical purpose. During the Cold War, the British Army based soldiers at permanent locations in West Germany. These troops would need rapid support from back home if Warsaw Pact formations ever rolled across the border.

The answer was the wheeled Saxon, which could quickly rush soldiers across Europe to the front lines.

Now the Saxon finds itself gearing up for battle once again. In December, Kiev’s state-owned defense conglomerate, Ukroboronprom, reported that it struck a deal to supply dozens of Saxon APCs to local “volunteer forces.”

The deal reportedly involves Witham Specialist Vehicles, a British company that describes itself as “specializing only in the sale and marketing of purely ex-Ministry of Defense vehicles, plant and equipment.”

The first shipment of 20 Saxons arrived at the Ukrainian port of Odessa around Feb. 11. Photos soon appeared on social media depicting the vehicles prepared for transport on flatbed trucks.

But these vehicles are also extremely vulnerable in modern combat.