Roshel Defence Solutions CEO Roman Shimonov talks about his company’s armored vehicles spotted at the NASA historic mission to International Space Station (ISS) and Roshel’s innovative approach to the industry

Roshel Defence Solutions is located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and it specializes in design and manufacturing of a wide range of armored vehicles equipped with intergraded security solutions and innovative defence technologies. Roshel is a privately-held corporation dedicated to the mission of providing complex security solutions to the government and commercial corporations in today’s ever changing security environment.

Roman Shimonov, the company’s CEO, answered by email the Defence Blog’s questions about his company and its role in the defence industry.

Could you please tell a bit more about your company?

Roshel Defence is a manufacturer of armored and special purpose vehicles. Our production plant in Ontario, Canada, services a global customer base consisting of commercial operators, government agencies, and law enforcement departments. Our manufacturing capability of 300 vehicles per year is much less than the market demand for our products, therefore it allows us to be selective about our customers. Since our key focus is implementation and integration of new technologies into our vehicular platforms, we mostly service the North American market which is ready to embrace innovation we have to offer.

What is that you do differently? Why do largest US government agencies, including NASA, and security companies choose your young and relatively small company as a supplier?

Despite being on the market for not that many years, we were able to gain a reputation of a reliable manufacturer capable of delivering complex armored vehicles projects involving integration of innovative systems such as fire source detection, jamming, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, etc. Since day one we have been building our portfolio and investing in performance track record even if at the very beginning we had to engage in not that profitable projects.

We offer our customers not just vehicles, but solutions. We equip vehicles with technological features addressing customer’s tactical needs. Obviously, we cannot do it on our own. To deliver cutting edge technologies we partner with the world’s leaders in their industries. For instance, we work in close cooperation with IAI, Israel’s state-owned entity, major aerospace and defense manufacturer. IAI provides us with an access to unique technologies which we integrate in our vehicles. In the past few years, we have successfully delivered a number of joint projects for the US law enforcement community.

The armored vehicles market is emerging into a very competitive landscape. In order to stay ahead of the competition, it is no longer enough to build a reliable ballistic protected vehicle. The vehicle has to serve the mission at the first place. We devote all our resources and efforts to R&D to ensure that we are able to offer our customers new applications for technologies and not just respond to their existing requirements. We stay creative and generate new opportunities for the market.

Could you tell us about the Senator APC spotted delivering NASA astronauts to the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center?

We cannot reveal technological details intergraded into this specific vehicle but as you have seen from the pictures and videos published from the events, NASA is utilizing the Roshel Senator APC to support its missions and in particular to defend astronauts on a ride to the launch at the Kennedy Space Center. The Senator APC is a high-performance multi-purpose vehicle armored personnel carrier designed for law enforcement, intelligence, rescue and medical applications worldwide. It’s a modular platform which can be easily converted to accommodate a wide variety of operations. It’s capable of being equipped with advanced defence and security systems such as video surveillance, cyber security, communications, fire source detection, gas detection, chemical and radiation protection. The Senator provides up to CEN B7 ballistic protection and defends occupants in case of a simultaneous explosion of 2 DM-51 German ordnance hand grenades or equivalent light anti-personnel mines.

How do you see the future for your industry?

The future is definitely in unmanned platforms and autonomous vehicles. Self-driving technologies are specifically applicable for the defence and security industries where protection of the person’s life is a key priority. We closely collaborate with our partners and do our own research and development to accelerate the integration and broad use of these technologies. I’m confident that the revolution which has happen in the aerial systems is on the doorstep of the automotive industry.