The 20 year old workhorse of the Military is finally going to have a replacement. This month Pentagon issued a “Request for Proposals” to all suppliers.
The current High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle – HMMWV model M998 was very successful model and served good in more than 50 military’s around the world. But the last wars in Iraq and Afghanistan show that it is too lightly armored for the tasks and operations in the surrounding where the front and rear do not exist anymore. Simply the survivability of the popular Humvee was not what military expected.

The mentioned “Call for Proposals” is not only for one vehicle, but for the whole family based on one chassis. There will be at least ten variants.
One of the seven companies which are involved is BAE Systems and the pictures are proposals for their JLTV PDQ model. As we heard from our friends in the company BAE Systems already know that they will win the contract. The new Humvee looks mean, but this is not some mad designer idea but necessity. The body of the new Humvee is made to deflect the blasts of the landmines and to protect the driveshaft.
The new Humvee will have one inch thick plate armor.

For WC News from Washington DC,
Carl Ackerman

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