The Ranger (4 × 4) armoured personnel carrier was developed by Cadillac Gage as a private venture to meet a requirement for a low-cost vehicle capable of transporting personnel at a high road speed while still retaining an off-road capability.

Late in 1977, the US Air Force issued a requirement for a Security Police Armored Response/Convoy Truck for patrolling airbases. The Air Force decided to initiate a two-step procurement, technical and price. In April 1978, a number of US manufacturers submitted detailed technical proposals in response to the requirement and in October the same year the US Air Force selected three manufacturers' proposals as meeting the technical requirements: Cadillac Gage, Oshkosh Truck Corporation and the Vehicle Systems Development Corporation.

In March 1979, the US Air Force chose the Cadillac Gage Ranger and in June 1979 the company was awarded a contract worth USD4.4 million for the supply of a number of vehicles plus technical and administrative data.

The first Cadillac Gage Ranger, called the Peacekeeper by the US Air Force, was handed over in April 1980. By early 1981, 560 vehicles had been ordered by the US Air Force and Navy. By 1994, 708 Cadillac Gage Ranger armoured personnel carriers had been built for the US forces and overseas sales. Since then there have been no sales of the Ranger and it is no longer being marketed.

Small quantities of these vehicles that were surplus to the requirements of the US military have been made available to some US civilian police departments.

In 1996, some of these Ranger vehicles were deployed to Bosnia and operated by the Peace Implementation Force (IFOR).

In US Air Force service the Cadillac Gage Ranger has now been fully replaced by the now BAE Systems, Protection and Mobility Systems (previously Armor Holdings, Aerospace and Defence Group) M1116 up-armoured HMMWV, which is covered in detail in a separate entry. This, in turn, is based on the armoured M1114, which is used in large numbers by the US Army. Description

The hull of the Ranger is made of all-welded 'CADLOY' high-hardness armour, which provides the crew with complete protection from small arms fire. The crew and vital components are protected from the effects of grenades exploding under the vehicle by bolt-on armour shields.

The Ranger armoured personnel carrier is based on a standard Chrysler 4 × 4 commercial truck chassis but with a shorter wheelbase.

The Dodge diesel engine is at the front of the hull and is coupled to a Dodge automatic transmission with three forward and one reverse gears, which is equipped with an auxiliary oil cooler. Coupled to the transmission is a two-speed transfer case. The manually selected four-wheel drive case with an inter-axle differential delivers proportionalised torque to both front and rear axles. The inter-axle differential enables the wheels on one axle to travel at a different speed from those on the other. Both axles are of the full-floating type.

The vehicle has a dual-hydraulic service brake system and a foot lever-actuated parking brake. The service brake system consists of two separate brake fluid lines and a split, front and rear, master cylinder. Power assist is supplied by means of a tandem-diaphragm brake booster that utilises engine vacuum for power. The front brakes are disc with self-adjusting calipers and the rear are drum with self-adjusting shoes.

The suspension, front and rear, consists of leaf springs with double-acting shock-absorbers and jounce stops at each wheel station. The combat tyres are filled with foam and when penetrated by small arms fire allow the vehicle to travel up to 80 km at 56 km/h.

The driver sits at the front of the vehicle on the left with the commander to his right. The steering wheel can be tilted to assist the driver in entering and leaving the vehicle. Both crew members have in front of them a bulletproof windscreen with a wiper. There is a firing port between the two windscreens. Each also has a rear-opening side door with a bulletproof vision block in its upper half under which is a firing port.

The troop compartment is at the rear of the hull with the personnel seated three down each side facing each other. They enter the vehicle through two doors in the rear of the hull, which open outwards. Both doors have a firing port and the left one has a vision block. In each side of the troop compartment is a vision block with a firing port underneath. The top of the hull is angled to allow hand grenades to roll off before they explode. If required, the vehicle could have been delivered with a roof hatch, on which can be fitted a variety of light armament installations such as a pintle-mounted 7.62 mm M60 machine gun with a shield and 200 rounds of ready use ammunition; a further 800 rounds carried in the hull.

The interior of the Ranger is insulated, which reduces noise, retains cool air as the vehicle is fitted with an air conditioning system and also aids crew safety. An air conditioning system is fitted as standard and there is also provision for expelling air. Standard equipment includes two-speed wipers with washers, a heater, a windscreen de-fogger and an internal dome light.

Optional equipment offered included flashing lights, a public address system, radios, a spotlight, the now Krauss-Maffei Wegmann 76 mm grenade launchers, a front-mounted winch and a 24 V electric system in place of the standard 12 V system. Variants

In addition to being used as an APC, the Ranger was also marketed in a number of other roles such as a command vehicle (crew of two plus two command staff), an ambulance (crew of two and carrying two stretcher plus two seated patients) and as a light reconnaissance vehicle, which could be fitted with a Cadillac Gage one-man turret armed with twin 7.62 mm (or 0.30), or one 7.62 mm (0.30) and one .50 (12.7 mm) M2 HB machine guns.