Quote:
Originally Posted by devildog0
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.
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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
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.