Posted on 02/07/2005 7:05:48 PM PST by finnman69
In early 2003, the U.S. bought nine 62 ton D9 armored Caterpillar bulldozers into Kuwait for the Iraq campaign. The D9s, and their Israeli made armor kit, were purchased because of the Israeli success with the dozen in urban warfare against Palestinian terrorists. America had used the D9 during the 1960s in Vietnam, but after that only used the smaller (35 ton, with armor kit) D7. The D9 was not needed for urban fighting in Iraq during 2003, but was found very useful (much more so than the smaller D7) for combat engineering tasks. The D9 quickly cleared highways of debris and built temporary roads for combat vehicles. One D9 was thought to be as useful as four D7s, and there is a lot of enthusiasm among combat engineers to keep the D9s, and get more of them. In 2004, the D9s were used for combat operations in places like Fallujah. Photos by LTC Norm Root
img src="http://www.webmutants.com/strategypage/d9_cat_1.jpg
img src="http://www.webmutants.com/strategypage/d9_cat_2.jpg
img src="http://www.webmutants.com/strategypage/d9_cat_3.jpg
http://www.webmutants.com/strategypage/d9_cat_1.jpg
http://www.webmutants.com/strategypage/d9_cat_2.jpg
http://www.webmutants.com/strategypage/d9_cat_3.jpg
Original link lets you see the pics.
http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/articles/military_photos_2005262.asp
The D9 would make short work on one of the "safe houses". Hehehehe. Parley
I've ALLWAYS said,
Let's turn places like Fallujah INTO a Parking Lot !
D9- the Right tool for the Right Job !
-
I could make a hell of a landing field out of some niegborhoods over there with one of those.
And high tracks to boot! FUN FUN! Just keep em pinned down inside boys and They be buried real soon!
Am I seeing the pictures of the hit correctly? The WINDOW took an RPG hit and survived.
Combat Engineer bump.
Why the heck aint they using lexon for windows?
bump
A Rachel Corrie processor.
That window hit is the only RPG hit the operator knows of. Launching RPG's at that is analogous to tossing golf balls at it.
That does appear to be a direct hit on the window. That "glass" appears to be a couple of inches thick(at least!) and is probably some sort of armor/composite material. Cool stuff!!
ping
Probably ballistic glass, the same stuff that is put in our up-armored Humvee's...
The D9 is forever etched into my memory as an "object" of terror and fear. When I was young and impressionable in the mid-1970's, I saw a made-for-TV movie one night called "Killdozer" (starring the world-famous Clint Walker). It was a cheezy third rate sci-fi "thriller". The basic plot was that a D9 bulldozer (which the characters referred to as a "D-Niner") becomes possessed by an alien life form, and goes on a killing spree, hunting down all the construction workers. At the tender age of 12, this movie really scared me, and I remember it to this day.
For those who think I am making this up, here is a link to a "Killdozer" plot summary on IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071717/plotsummary
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.