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Phantom Badger, reporting for duty
BBC ^ | 22 April 2014 | Matthew Phenix

Posted on 12/29/2014 12:42:19 AM PST by WhiskeyX

The Willys MB – better known as the original jeep – was a game-changer during World War II. Small, agile, versatile and durable, jeeps were easy to deploy, easy to operate and easy to maintain, making them perhaps the Allies’ most important battlefield equipment. More than 70 years later, US aircraft maker and defence supplier Boeing has revisited the original jeep’s winning formula in a stocky little bruiser of a car called the Phantom Badger.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: boeing; jeep; osprey; willysmb

1 posted on 12/29/2014 12:42:20 AM PST by WhiskeyX
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To: WhiskeyX

Badgers, we don’t need no stinking badgers!

Cc


2 posted on 12/29/2014 12:53:55 AM PST by Celtic Conservative (Tagline Constructon zone- low humor ahead)
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To: WhiskeyX

Granted my old Willys CJ5 has problems, I’ll keep it.


3 posted on 12/29/2014 3:21:39 AM PST by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: WhiskeyX

How agile will it be when a ton of armor is bolted on it?


4 posted on 12/29/2014 3:38:22 AM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: R. Scott

“How agile will it be when a ton of armor is bolted on it?”

In order to stay within the Osprey weight limits, the vehicle is intended to have no significant armor.


5 posted on 12/29/2014 3:57:35 AM PST by WhiskeyX
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To: WhiskeyX

Like our Humvee. Originally intended as a replacement for the jeep it was not armored. It was soon armored and became a replacement for the APC.


6 posted on 12/29/2014 4:15:45 AM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: WhiskeyX

Thanks for the post and link to a good article.


7 posted on 12/29/2014 4:25:14 AM PST by octex
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To: R. Scott

True, but you now have the Humvee and others which are armored, but they cannot be transported by the Osprey which the Phantom Badger was designed for without the armor that would make it too heavy for the Osprey. It is not supposed to be an either or situation.

In WWII terms it is the difference between a White Armored Car towing a howitzer versus a Willys peep towing a pack howitzer off of a glider.


8 posted on 12/29/2014 4:30:12 AM PST by WhiskeyX
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To: WhiskeyX

My son’s job is to repair military trucks. He hates the Humvee. He might like this, though.


9 posted on 12/29/2014 4:47:08 AM PST by Excellence (Marine mom since April 11, 2014)
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To: WhiskeyX

While you do need armor in these days of 'irregular' warfare, you don't always need an armored heavyweight and in areas where you need rapid mobility air-transported, heavyweights can't!

This looks like good thought and engineering went into it. Love that turning radius!

10 posted on 12/29/2014 4:51:58 AM PST by SES1066 (Quality, Speed or Economical - Any 2 of 3 except in government - 1 at best but never #3!)
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To: WhiskeyX

It should be the Phantom Honey Badger!


11 posted on 12/29/2014 5:36:33 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: WhiskeyX

You mentioned gliders which were discontinued in the 50’s when the 82nd’s 325 Abn inf Regt was still a glider outfit. Since then there have been many applications where gliders could have been used instead of sending in the much more expensive, and maintainence intensive choppers. Were they a casualty of the rotary wing war ?


12 posted on 12/29/2014 6:34:37 AM PST by mosesdapoet (Serious contribution pause.Please continue onto meaningless venting no one reads.)
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To: mosesdapoet

More powerful engines on short takeoff cargo-transport aircraft capable of using unimproved short runways while transporting air portable vehicles largely made the highly vulnerable and relatively dangerous to use glider transports obsolete; e.g. Chase/Fairchild C-123 Provider.

Fairchild C-123 Provider
The C-123 Provider was designed originally as an assault glider aircraft for the United States Air Force (USAF) by Chase Aircraft as the XCG-20 (Chase designation MS-8 Avitruc)[1]
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_C-123_Provider


13 posted on 12/29/2014 6:47:58 AM PST by WhiskeyX
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To: WhiskeyX

“More powerful engines on short takeoff cargo-transport aircraft capable of using unimproved short runways while transporting air portable vehicles largely made the highly vulnerable and relatively dangerous to use glider transports obsolete; e.g. Chase/Fairchild C-123 Provider.” So does a helio air assult team hover and drop in a contested area. In fact their entrance to the CZ quickly gets known to everybody including the enemy, but gliders can quietly sneak in and deploy particularly if its a strike and hold operation.

The vehicle described in your PB posting can easily be “air dropped”, as well as trucks and field pieces. Gliders contructed of plywood used in WWII were expendable. Once landed on a open field and unloaded it was put to use toward other purposes; aid stations, comm centers, field hqs etc. The unpowered C-82, the forerunner of the C-119, was tried but needed a cleared field to safely land which means different tactics. Likewise the C-123 from your posting which was considered briefly has an interesting history including sea and snow borne applications as a powered aircraft. A furthur reading of the article did reference very briefly to the war of the rotary wing .Personally I think it has to do with $$$$$.


14 posted on 12/29/2014 9:05:00 AM PST by mosesdapoet (Serious contribution pause.Please continue onto meaningless venting no one reads.)
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To: WhiskeyX

While attending a quaint little summer camp in northwestern Georgia, I enjoyed the distinct pleasure of taking off twice in the C-123 Provider. It climbed like a scalded ape. Likewise, I am unable to render an accurate critique as to it’s landing characteristics, due to sudden short visits made into Alabama.


15 posted on 12/29/2014 9:26:38 AM PST by freepersup (Patrolling the waters off Free Republic one dhow at a time.)
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