Ford has made no secret about its exciting Bronco lineup expansion plans. Come next year, both the Bronco Raptor and Everglades package will debut. You should be excited. And now the folks over at Bronco Nation have gotten an up-close preview of a relatively lightly disguised advanced prototype. By and large, it looks production-ready.

Perhaps its coolest feature is that snorkel located on the right side. It might be a little hard to notice at first given the camo. A few additional features we can make out are the wider wheel arches, off-road tires, and the winch on the front bumper.

All of this is factory-installed so owners shouldn't have to make any aftermarket modifications. So why have the snorkel there in the first place? Because it'll help protect the SUV from things like water and mud. It's designed to suck in both, thus making it easier to drive through high waters and other nasty road conditions.

Already the Bronco can dodge through 31.5 inches of water. Upgrade to the Sasquatch package and the figure increases to 33.5 inches. Examining the photos further, we can see the tires are 35-inch Goodyear Territory MT. The wheels are new designs, too.

Out back, there's a slide-out tailgate, currently optional on the Bronco. We wouldn't be surprised if it's standard on the Everglades. Other specific details, like engine and transmission options, are still unknown but we won't have to much longer to find out.

Ford is clearly wasting no time with its Bronco program. It's a serious assault on Jeep, which has pretty much owned the off-roading market for several years. It continues to be America's go-to brand for everything off-road but Ford is now giving it a run for its money. We can't wait to see how Jeep responds in kind. The off-roading battles are officially underway.