Armored Humvee

Privacy policy An Armored Humvee is more resilient towards IED:s like the one that destroyed this Humvee

The armored Humvee offers better protection than the standard Humvee and is therefore often a better choice in perilous zones where the military Humvee might be attacked. When the military Humvee was created, it was never intended as a combat vehicle. Today, it is however common for Humvee drivers to end up in situations where they need increased protection from attackers. The line between combat areas and non-combat areas are getting more and more blurred each year, and the new modern type of warfare calls for increased protection of all personnel – not only those who enter combat zones.

The standard military Humvee is not armored, and those in need of an armored Humvee must therefore purchase special armor kits especially designed to fit the various Humvee types. The standard Humvee is quite defenseless and can not withstand even comparatively weak weapons. The modern main battle tanks can quite easily handle an attack from hand-held unguided anti-tank weapons, but this is not the case for the standard Humvee. If you want to damage a Humvee and injure or even kill those inside, an ordinary AK-47 (AKM) or a handheld anti-tank grenade-launcher will be enough. If you want to successfully to attack a modern main battle tank with such weapons, you have to be a very avid aimer since there are only a few minor spots where the battle tank is susceptible to damage from this type of handheld weapons. The Humvee on the other hand, will be easily penetrated regardless of where you hit it. The Humvee is also highly vulnerable to land minds and other forms of roadside explosives.

The armored Humvee evolved in the field, where soldiers started to build their own makeshift armors to protect themselves from attacks while driving a Humvee. An improvised armored Humvee could for instance be reinforced using ballistic glass, ballistic blankets and virtually any other type of available off-the-shelf items that the soldiers could find.

The ad hoc armored Humvee that was formed by soldiers in the field did however come with serious drawbacks. Soldiers were forced to use what ever they could find to save the lives of themselves and the people they were transporting, and in many cases they had to settle for less than optimal materials and solutions.

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Using a pre-fabricated armor kit to turn a standard Humvee into an armored Humvee is naturally a preferable solution. Engineers working in a safe environment will be able to really focus their attention on problem solving. A much broader range of materials will be available, and the same is true for tools, equipment and machine parks. Off the field, it is also possible to carry out more experiments and try the solutions in the ballistic test areas.

When you turn an ordinary Humvee into an armored Humvee, you will add more weight to it. This will not only make the vehicle heavier; it can also make it less stable. A problem with the improvised armored Humvee was that it could become more susceptible to tilting, a problem which could lead to disastrous consequences when under attack or when trying to maneuver the Humvee in rough terrain. The new ready-made armor kits will hopefully solve this problem, since they have been created with light-weight and stability in mind.