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I don't think the problem should be solved by trying to turn the unarmored humvee into an armored humvee. The mission calls for a cheap to buy (lots of 'em) and cheap to operate wheeled APC. America can (and in my opinion should) build one. I don't think the LAV is it, the LAV is a high end combat platform, and priced to match. America should design and build a cheap wheeled APC with COTS components from the truck/bus industry. In comparison, the SISU APC is cheaper then the M1114. It ain't a great APC (ala LAV/Stryker) but its a whole lot better than the M1114.

What's the short-term production potential of the APC? The fact is that something is better than nothing in the next 18 months. We've got to get armored vehicles, whether they are hummers or something else into the rear of the military convoys. Otherwise casualty counts will increase. Al Qaeda is now using video footage of humvees getting shot up in their recruiting tapes.

The humvee can go a heck of a lot of places that such a large vehicle can't go simply from size. Based on what I've seen of a humvee on teraain, I'd suspect that it can negotiate a lot of terrain and back-roads that thing can't.

I don't think the problem should be solved by trying to turn the unarmored humvee into an armored humvee. The mission calls for a cheap to buy (lots of 'em) and cheap to operate wheeled APC. America can (and in my opinion should) build one. I don't think the LAV is it, the LAV is a high end combat platform, and priced to match. America should design and build a cheap wheeled APC with COTS components from the truck/bus industry. In comparison, the SISU APC is cheaper then the M1114. It ain't a great APC (ala LAV/Stryker) but its a whole lot better than the M1114.

If a six-wheeled APC is desired, it's possible to begin the project using the chassis and powerplant of a 6x6 cargo truck, the Genesis of both the SISU and the 6-wheeled Ford M8/M20 of WWII. Though the M20 was never intended for use as a squad carrier, some were used for MP strike teams by the US Constabulary by the Occupation Forces in Germany following WWII, and mortar and M55 quad-gun mount versions were fielded by other countries military forces.

If a short wheelbase version is required, the engineer dumptruck chassis offers an immediate starting place; the standard truck chassis for a personnel carrier, or the stretched M36/M36A1/M36A2 version automotive platform can be used for a longer variant.