You don't take this vehicle into combat you stand off and let the 120mm mortar do the talking. You decide, would you rather shoot at someone with an M2 or would you rather stand off and kill him from miles away.
I was very involved in the testing of this vehicle as a consulting engineer to General Dynamics OTS. This vehicle was NOT the primary reason for this award. The marines were not just buying this vehicle they were buying a weapon system. The Growler vehicle was designed to be a prime mover for a 120mm mortar system. Unfortunately for the other company the mortar that they offered was not and is not nearly as good as the GDOTS system.
This is Exactly what the US Navy is for. The teachings of Alfred Thayer Mahan are the dogma that is the US Navy i.e. Control the Sea and you control trade. Like the Royal Navy in the 18th and 19th century any attack on shipping, US flagged or not is an attack on the US therefore the use of force is justified.
Folks, I just dont know were to start with this whole article. I has so many misstatements and half truths.
First of all I want you folks at FR that I have been involved with this industry for 22 years and have designed many of the motors and systems that they talk about.
I is not hard nor rare to build these magnets. There are some tricks that you need to know. One: unless they are properly combined with a Getter material they will rust and lose power. Two: unless specifically treated the will when they get to around 140C become demagnetized. This is what the special process that they talk about that has the patents. Patents BTW can be revoked at ANY time by the Congress. This right comes straight from the Constitution.
So dont Panic. Other materials can also be used such as Samarium Cobalt that will offer almost the same Magnetic Coercively (hows that for a fancy word ?) .
Note Neo Magnets are available on E-bay but dont let your kids play with them as the can be dangerous.