I guess what goes around comes around..........

[dorminWS]

..... but do da word "JEEP" mean anything to you young whippersnappers?

Also, as a Jeep guy from way back before teenagers and yuppies thought they were cool (Hell, that was before Yuppies, for that matter), I was vexed and perplexed at what a bloated monster the military procurement bureaucracy came up with when they, after YEARS, spawned the hulking HUMM-V to replace the humble Jeep. What became the Jeep was originally conceived as a "utility vehicle" which was basically supposed to be a mechanical horse; a way to move one or maybe two men around fast under combat conditions if necessary. A Hummer ain't a Jeep; it's a damn TRUCK; and a pretty BIG damn truck at that. Now, we hear that when confronted with a need to develop a "combat support vehicle" (sounds a lot like the original idea of a "combat utility vehicle" that led to the Jeep, doesn't it) the private sector was able to re-invent the wheel PDQ:

"The development of the Phantom Badger by the Special Pursuits Cell at Boeing Phantom Works took only six months from the first computer design to an operating product. Boeing managed this by going into partnership with MSI Defense Solutions of North Carolina, which brought its expertise in developing NASCAR vehicles as well as tactical vehicles to the project."

Forgive an old curmudgeon who's a compulsive penny-pincher, but I have to wonder if maybe they shouldn't have turned the project over to that bunch of North Carolina NASCAR hillbillies to begin with.
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http://www.gizmag.com/boeing-phantom-ba ... 8-91559677

[dusterdude]

Omg!!!,cool vehicle but they're going to transport it in that pos osprey?again omg!!!


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[JustinCase]

Im really diggin' the Badger!!

It wont replace the HMMWV, nor do I think it was ever envisioned to.. but damn its cool!

[Swampman]

One last piece of trivia - the original Jeep was commissioned a General Purpose vehicle and nicknamed the "GP". The civilian market came up with the name JEEP.

[MarcSpaz]

Not that this thing doesn't look interesting... but why the heck didn't they just go back to using modern diesel Wranglers? Swap the panels out for armor, some better tires and there ya go.

[M1A4ME]

They HAVE to spend our money. That means buying stuff they don't need, using it for awhile and then buying something similar to what they replaced a few years ago.

Its "okay" to modify what they have a time or two, but then they need to chuck it and start over, then eventually, they go back to it.

I don't own a Jeep. I've thought about it, but just never really needed one. I did ride in an old Willys once. Bald GI tires, rust, dents, no windshield or top, it sat out in the weather all the time, at some point someone had run it over something hard enough/high enough to warp the alignment of the gas tank spout to the hole in the body and you had to use a stick to pry the spout sideways enough to dump a 5 gallon can of gas in it.

I told my buddy we'd never get anywhere in it but he said his brother's used it to go all over their farm (WV, down near Huntington). Well, bald tires or not, that jeep took us all over the farm that day and he even used it (back end and going in reverse) to push a good sized tree out of a path to one of the upper pastures. I got out and watched. I tried to tell him that if that tree bounced up over the back end it would crush him but he said they'd done it many times over the years and he'd be ready to duck.

I do know you could never take a big old wide/heavy Hummer where those old jeeps will go in the wooded mountains at home.

[MarcSpaz]

The HMMWV (HUMVEE) is huge. They weight 3 tons, 15 feet long and over 7 feet wide. The modern "4 door" Wrangler is less than 2 tons , 14 feet long and is narrower by a whole foot. The 2 door version, like the original GP is only 12 feet long.

Plus the current Wranglers have a live axle which is stronger than the IFS/IRS the HMMWV uses and it have coil spring suspension, giving it much more articulation and vehicle stability while climbing over stuff, even if it is just rough terrain.

The Badger still limited by the IFS/IRS and while on 35" tires, it has less than 17" of chassis ground clearance. My Wrangler on 35" tire has the same chassis ground clearance. Seems like for $150,000 each, the best they could engineer is something not as capable as the retail Wrangler. Well... okay... it does have a belt fed gun, and a belt fed gun is a happy gun, but still.