Military Gladiator concept
 

HUMMER 4.0?: FCA AND AM GENERAL PARTNER ON NEW MILITARY-SPEC VEHICLE
The Jeep Gladiator could be the perfect platform for the next tactical vehicle

https://autoweek.com/article/car-new...y-spec-vehicle
https://s3-prod.autoweek.com/JeepGla...s1te0sngvl.jpg

Nice. Jeeps back in service.

Doing Military concept vehicles is nothing really new from OEMs. I doubt this is actually going to be bought up by the military, especially considering AM General does not make military vehicles anymore.

Shut up, James.

Don't mess w/ the original American Bad Ass :us:

AM General has contracts to build 1200 Humvees this year.

I doubt the U.S. will buy many of the Gladiators, but they will make a few thousand overseas sales. SOCOM is likely to buy a bunch, they should be able to be cut down to fit in a V-22.

Really? I thought the Oshkosh JLTV was replacing it completely? Its amazing that they're still producing that god awful 6.5 TD.

As bad as it is, it cuts down on the stuff the LCD serviceman at the motorpool has to know how to fix.

Humvees will be out there for another 20-30 years. They still have a good roll in logistics between the garrison and edge of the battle field.

Lots of places the JLTV is going to prove to be too big/heavy and intimidating for the job at hand.

20 or 30 years? Nearly doubling the life its had already? I wish they continued to make the civilian versions. They shared the same assembly line for a significant portion of the production process. Learned that when I toured the plant years and years ago.

Last Codel I was on rode in one built in 1987. If an 18-22 year old doesn't wreck it, they will last forever. :roflmao:

NO way the Gladiator won't fit in a V22 unless it's narrowed and shortened height wise. It'll barely fit a M1161 Growler and crew. And they're already looking for a replacement for those which came online just in 2004. Infact the Growlers started showing up on GovPlanet earlier this year.

This is a neat concept but it'll never be fielded by the US in any significant numbers. It has no small arms or mine protection which is pretty much mandatory anymore. It'll probably generate some foreign sales as Jeep as done in the past with cool military Wranglers that we never got a chance to buy.

As far as HMMWVs. Yeah they'll be around for a long time to come in secondary roles. Even longer in National Guard and Reserve motorpools here state side. It took forever to get the M151 MUTT out of motorpools when the HMMWV was coming online to replace it. The Marine Corps used the dang thing till the lat 90s very early 2000s.

Only thing the Corps used M151s for post 1990 was as FAVs for Recon and maintenance vehicles as the Camp Pendleton golf course.

Was talking to folks this weekend, the Gladiator is going to be tested with the -53K :D according to the one guy who would know and has the ultimate authority to make it happen. Will also be tested as a sling load, shouldn't have any real problems.

It should still fit in a V-22 with flairs, roll bar and windshield removed, but as tight as it could possibly be. So no go with 18-42 year old crowd driving.

I had a CO that was court martialed for burying HMMWVs in Iraq rather than clean and ship them back - wrote them up as unservicable. My unit was responsible for cleaning them over there, and then when equipment got back here we pulled it all out, wearing full MOPP gear in unbearable humidity in North Carolina heat, put them on large wooden decks, some things up on block and tackle beams and washed them down, dried them and repackaged them as part of an embarkation unit :banghead:

Dennis, wonder if you could look him up, forget his name off the top of my head, but he was w/ 8th Engineers Support Battalion out of Camp Lejeune, circa '91 (90-92) :dunno:

:lol: WTF. Bury a vehicle instead of clean it up and ship it back? That is kinda funny.

Well, it was a lot of work, intensive shyt during that era of thinking everything was chemically covered!

He also shot the piss out of them to make them unservicable...so there's that, too!

And, let me tell you, wearing this shyt in the summer/fall in NC was not treat!! Had to be on when we opened the units in case something was inside from Iraq, then through the entire process of hanging it, washing it, and it SUCKED!

Google it...ugh, don't miss that!

I'll see if anyone knows how to get that history, but I remember the story and think I remember the guy. 8th Engineers served as the paint booth to get vehicles painted tan at the Port of Jubail. They painted my euro market XJ and Land Cruiser. The also graffed a humvee ring mount onto the FJ80.

But the M151 was still being used even that late in the game. Even if it was in limited use. I simply brought it up as an indicator of how long the HMMWV could hang around in motorpools. Hell the Combat Engineer guard unit in my home town had M60AVLBs long after the regular Army had phased them out, even though they would have been in support of M1 Abrams tanks. Guess what wont fit across an M60AVLB's bridge without removing the little guard rails off the side haha.

Would be neat to see it in or under a 53 though. I rebuilt T64 gas turbines for 5 years. Those aren't in the K models but I still have a spot in my heart for 53s :)

The last 3 years I was in I spent on V22s. My least favorite aircraft as a passenger haha.

unless they make it 4-corner leafs and offer the diesel with a 6spd manual ... why bother?

I love the Osprey except going from Airplane mode to Helo mode. It is like slamming on the brakes and your stomach reminding you that you ate too much three days ago.

We had BARC/LARCs built in 1953 out in Desert Storm, my grandkids will have Humvees around when it is their turn to do whatever.

Unpressurized cabin sucks at high altitude, yeah the crew gets their O2 system. Pax don't get **** haha. I'm not used to high altitude I was getting tunnel vision, seeing spots, nauseated, headache. Wasn't in a good mood when I landed :P Cruise is 5 degrees nose up which makes for sitting in the sideward facing seats a little awkward for hours on end. I enjoyed the transition from helo to plane and plane to helo that never bothered me.