If you ever see a black late-model Chevrolet Suburban in a TV show or movie, it’s more than likely part of a mysterious organization’s convoy or carrying a government official. There’s a reason you see that vehicle carrying around big shots: In the real world, a black Suburban is the go-to rig for getting important people where they need to go – in one piece. In a recent video, Jay Leno gets an up-close look at one of the Suburban Shields built for the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service.
As Julie Cabus, Assistant Director of Training for the DSS, explains, their modified Suburbans are not only intended to keep their occupants alive, but moving so they can be transported out of hostile environments. According to Brady Russell, chief engineer for the DSS’s Armored Vehicle Program, there are two ways to make a Suburban that impregnable. One is that a third-party armorer contracted by the DSS takes an existing Suburban, strips its interior to the firewall, lines the vehicle with special ballistic-grade steel armor, and re-installs the interior components while the DSS performs inspections of the work at various stages along the way. The other is that the DSS works directly with GM Defense and an outside supplier of a fully boxed frame that is then paired with the armored body.
Surprisingly, steel is the material of choice. Russell states that getting the DSS’s suppliers to integrate composites in their armoring processes has been difficult, although the ballistic-resistant windows are made up of layers of laminated glass and plastic. The tires on the eight-lug wheels? Run-flats, of course.
As you’d expect, all of that extra metal adds weight. So does the thick front sway bar and beefed-up springs and control arms. Although the 6.2-liter V8 gas and 3.0-liter I6 DuraMax turbodiesel engines seem largely stock, even they get some armor plating of their own under the hood. According to Russell, an empty Suburban Shield weighs 11,500 pounds; loaded, it tips the scale at 12,850. That’s why the DSS’s rigs are equipped with eight-lug wheels and the brakes from a Hummer EV.
Those chosen to drive foreign dignitaries and American diplomats around in a Suburban Shield go through more than 100 hours of driver training in their first 24 months. During that time, they learn about the vehicle’s unique characteristics, such as its body roll, weight, and braking distances (and perhaps the fact that only the driver’s window opens…about two inches).
Cabus was “overwhelmingly grateful and duly impressed with the fact that these cars performed as well as they did” after they transported their passengers to safety and returned from attacks in Pakistan and Yemen. Fortunately for Leno, his time behind the wheel takes place on the much less volatile streets of Burbank, California. There, he learns that the Suburban Shield feels just like a regular one pulling a trailer and more about working at the DSS. He also manages to bring the Suburban’s fuel economy up to a whopping 6.1 mpg. That’s nice, but not a part of formal driver training – and a distance second to keeping a diplomat in an un-perforated state.
Source: www.classiccars.com