Army Humvee

Privacy policy Army Humvee.

The army humvee came into service in the middle of the 80s replacing all of the jeeps and light trucks that had been in service since the Second World War. The real name of the army humvee is HMMWV, or High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, which says a lot about the purpose of the vehicle. It is one of the fastest, most agile and most flexible light truck available today although it has been misused during recent years. Keep on reading and learn more about the different roles the army humvee takes on and how it performs in them.

Army humvee – The transport vehicle

As planned the army humvee took over the role from the light truck as a transport vehicle and performs wonderful for that specific task. The army humvee can easily work as a troop transport and cargo transport without any changes, with just a few changes the army humvee is the perfect military ambulance fitting four stretchers and three crewmembers. The army humvee also proved perfect as a tow vehicle for support weapon platforms such as light artillery, surface-to-air missiles and mortar teams. In other words was the army humvee a perfect match for the roles it was supposed to act in and a huge success all over.

Army humvee – The support vehicle

Later, in the early 90s, the army humvee was tried out for other roles such as a scout vehicle, as a command vehicle and even as a support vehicle carrying its own weapon platform making it more flexible with the more asymmetrical warfare of modern times. Carrying antitank missiles, heavy machine guns or other support weapons the army humvee could now assist infantry when confronting so called hard targets. As long as the army humvee was fast and agile enough and had the company of real combat vehicles, such as armored personnel carriers and tanks, it proved successful even in these roles.

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Army humvee – The combat vehicle

In recent years the army humvee has received a new kind of role and that is as a combat vehicle. The reason to this is the anti-track sentiment that comes from the US government and defense department, and since the army humvee more or less is the only wheeled vehicle available it was sent to the front. As a light transportation truck the army humvee was never considered for combat, thus having minimum armor to benefit speed and agility. In other words, as a combat vehicle, or even a patrol vehicle, the army humvee is worthless having light infantry fire and bomb shrapnel passing straight through it as if it was made out of paper. An add-on armor was invented but the weight had the side effects of slowing the army humvee down making it both less agile and worthless in any other roles than combat. With the heightened centre of gravity the armored army humvee also tends to flip over more easily than the original construction. Complaints has been filed and the US military is looking into replacing the army humvee as a combat vehicle and let it do what it does best, transport and support.