I can’t wait till surplus Humvees are available to civilians. I am so getting one. with a turret cupola.
How did I ever survive 20+ years in the army without all that armor protection....................
The Humvee, which replaced the Jeep ...
... it has never achieved the legendary status of the Jeep and its vulnerability to land mines ...
Originally the Humvee was supposed to be a replacement for the jeep. That changed when people started complaining that it was vulnerable to mines and rockets (like the jeeps wasn’t?). The Humvee had to become a replacement for the APC, complete with heavy armor. Troops were still occasionally injured, we need more, heavier armor!
And the enemy will make heavier, more powerful mines.
I look at pictures of the Cougar MRAP, at 33,000 pounds I wonder how agile it is off road. My Jeeps could go anywhere - well, it couldn’t push down trees and wasn’t amphibious, but was a good go anywhere transporter. I also wonder how long it takes the passengers inside the MRAPs to get out.
There’s also the matter of cost, at over half a million for the base vehicle before adding assessors some versions will approach a million. I know, cost is no object when it comes to our military - but it is a factor. What equipment will we lose to pay for these? Many want to discontinue the MBT because of cost, and look what happened to the F-22 and F-35.