The Humvee has been the U.S. military's main light vehicle platform since the 1980s
Military light utility vehicle, or simply light utility vehicle (LUV), is a term used for the lightest weight class military vehicle category.[1] A Jeep-like four-wheel drive vehicle for military use[2] by definition lighter than other military trucks and vehicles, inherently compact and usually with light or no armour, with short body overhangs for nimble all-terrain mobility, and frequently around 4-passenger capacity.
Worldwide, and since the earliest large scale mechanisation of the military, hundreds of different light vehicles have been used for military utility service, ranging from readily available commercial products, just repainted in military colors, to purpose-designed tactical vehicles, that were specially developed for military applications and operation in forward areas. Light utility vehicles are typically general or multi-purpose, used to carry troops, staff, (mounted) weapons, supplies, evacuate wounded soldiers, and many other diverse roles.[2]
Military light utility vehicles originated in the first half of the twentieth century, when modernisation of armies meant replacing horses and other draft animals through mechanisation, as well as increasing mobility of the infantry, to gain an essential tactical advantage. In 21st century missions, small arms fire and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) continuously pose highly dangerous threats to mobile infantry, and the military's lightest utility vehicles have frequently become heavier and larger, as a result of addition of armour, for the purpose of crew protection.[citation needed] Designs for modern light military vehicle platforms have to balance manoeuvrability, speed, weapons capability, survivability and transportability– all of high importance to ground troops in operations.[citation needed]
The importance of this kind of military vehicle was summed up by General Eisenhower, who wrote that most senior officers regarded the jeep as one of the six most vital U.S. vehicles in World War II.[4] Moreover, general George Marshall called the jeep “America’s greatest contribution to modern warfare.”[5][6][7] Similar vehicles are among the most common military vehicles in armies of most nations.
World War II
The Dodge WC series was built in some 50 variants. Shown here is a command / radio car with an ambulance behind it.The Schwimmwagen, an amphibious vehicle used by the Wehrmacht
In 1939, the U.S. Army began standardizing its general-purpose trucks by limiting procurement to five chassis payload classes, from 1⁄2-ton to 7+1⁄2-ton, but the army was "to use commercial trucks with only a few modifications such as brush guards and towing pintles .."[8] However, in 1940 the categories were revised. A new, lightest chassis, "quarter-ton" class was introduced, at the bottom of the range, and the 1⁄2-ton category was supplanted by a 3⁄4-ton chassis– both were classified as "light" trucks; 1+1⁄2-tonners were considered "medium".[9]
The Willys MB Jeep of World War II used by the U.S. Army is probably the most widely known vehicle of this class. Over 640,000 Jeeps were built for World War II, and they inspired many vehicles similar in layout, or function. Besides the jeep, the U.S. also produced some 330,000 half- and three quarter-ton Dodge WC series trucks, in a wide range of variants. Together, the Willys and Ford jeeps, and Dodge's WC-series trucks made up nearly all of the WW II U.S. light vehicle output of almost a million (~988,000) units.[10][9]
In World War II, Germany used the Volkswagen Kübelwagen for a similar role. It only had rear-wheel drive, but could take advantage of light weight, a very flat, smooth underbody,[11] rear axle portal geared hubs, and a rear-mounted engine for mobility. Early American dune buggies were also based on the Volkswagen, and the Desert Storm-era Desert Patrol Vehicle evolved from the dune buggy configuration for combat use.
The Volkswagen Schwimmwagen featured a bathtub-like unitary boat-body and propulsion screw. The Jeep was similarly adapted as the Ford GPA "Seep", but was never as successful as the Schwimmwagen, which became the most mass-produced amphibious car in history. Unlike the Kübelwagen, the Schwimmwagen was equipped with four-wheel drive, and with its super-smooth underbody and portal geared hubs front and rear, arguably the most capable light German off-roader in World War II.[citation needed]
The Soviet Union produced the GAZ-64 based largely on the US jeep design, succeeded by the GAZ-67 and GAZ-67B, until ca. 1953.
The U.S. revised its jeep into the Willys M38 and M38A1, which was used in the Korean War. It was followed in 1960 by the M151 jeep, which was designed with Ford. By the mid-1980s, this role would be taken over by the larger and heavier Humvee, which would be used as a combat vehicle in Iraq. The United States also purchased Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicles based on commercially available light trucks. U.S. forces are currently defining the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle which would be designed to be armored from the outset, with the smallest 4-person payload capacity class corresponding to the traditional jeep role.
In 1948, the British Land Rover was developed. Originally intended to be a civilian and agricultural successor to the Willys Jeep (the prototype Land Rover was built on the chassis of a Willys and used Willys transmission parts but production vehicles used no Jeep components) the Land Rover was brought into military service in 1949, eventually becoming the standard Light Utility Vehicle for the British Army and many armed forces of the Commonwealth and displacing the purpose built and more expensive Austin Champ. The original Land Rover design evolved into the modern-day Land Rover Defender which is still in military service throughout the world.
About 1953 Russia replaced its GAZ-67B by the GAZ-69, until that series was replaced by the UAZ-469 commander jeep which was introduced in 1971.
In the 1960s, China's Beijing Automobile Works produced its own "jeep", the Beijing BJ212 which was largely a Chinese copy of the Soviet UAZ-469B. Often called the “Beijing Jeep”, the BJ121 was widely used in both military and civilian service in China, with over 200,000 produced by end of production in 1983. In May 1983, American Motors Corporation (AMC) agreed to allow the updated BJ2020S to use the 85hp engine of the XJ Jeep Cherokee.[12] The latest Chinese light utility will be the BJ2022JC 'Brave Warrior', built by Beijing Benz-Daimler Chrysler Automobile Co. Adapted from existing Mercedes Benz designs, the BJ2022JC will carry 0.7 ton[vague], with a wheelbase of 110 inches, and has an independent suspension system with a 101.5kW 3.2 L turbo-charged inter-cooling diesel engine.[13]
In 2014, Boeing and MSI Design designed the Phantom Badger, in response to the aging Humvee fleet, which was too large for newer aircraft to feasibly carry.[14]
The Humvee platform represented a paradigm change in the U.S. military– abolishing the dichotomy between the small quarter-ton rigs, and the various other, larger "light" trucks, after more than four decades. Intended to replace all of the Army's 1⁄4-ton to 1+1⁄4-ton vehicles with one single chassis, the resulting 1⁄4-ton Humvee became much larger and heavier than the jeeps, and inspired a new generation of vehicles, used in similar military roles.
↑ Hope, Claire (July 2008). Light Utility Vehicles 2008 (announcement). allconferences.com. Defense IQ Press. Archived from the original on 2008-09-08. Retrieved 20 July 2008. to be discussed at this international event will include (...) the U.S. Joint Light Tactical Vehicle replacement programme
↑ "The Jeep: An American Icon". National Museum of the United States Army. 16 July 2012. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
↑ Bennett, Ralph Kinney (9 April 2010). "The Elegant Jeep". American Enterprise Institute. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle is a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles previously performed by the original jeep, and others such as the Vietnam War-era M151 Jeep, the M561 "Gama Goat", their M718A1 and M792 ambulance versions, the Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle, and other light trucks. Primarily used by the United States military, it is also used by numerous other countries and organizations and even in civilian adaptations. The Humvee saw widespread use in the Gulf War of 1991, where it navigated the desert terrain; this usage helped to inspire civilian Hummer versions. The vehicle's original unarmored design was later seen to be inadequate, and was found to be particularly vulnerable to improvised explosive devices in the Iraq War. The U.S. hastily up-armored select models and replaced front-line units with the MRAP. The U.S. military sought to replace the vehicle in front-line service under the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program. In 2015 the Oshkosh L-ATV was selected for production.
Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from their previous owner American Motors Corporation (AMC).
The Volkswagen Type 82 Kübelwagen, or simply Kübel, contractions of the original German word Kübelsitzwagen, is a military light utility vehicle designed by Ferdinand Porsche and built by Volkswagen during World War II for use by the Nazi German military. Based heavily on the Volkswagen Beetle, it was prototyped and first deployed in Poland as the Type 62, but following improvements entered full-scale production as the Type 82. Several derivative models, such as the Kommandeurswagen, were also built in hundreds, or in dozens.
AM General is an American heavy vehicle and contract automotive manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. It is best known for the civilian Hummer and the military Humvee that are assembled in Mishawaka, Indiana. For a relatively brief period, 1974–1979, the company also manufactured transit buses, making more than 5,400 of them.
A utility vehicle (UV) is a vehicle, generally motorized, that is designed to carry out a specific task with more efficacy than a passenger vehicle. It sometimes refers to a small truck with low sides.
The Willys MB and the Ford GPW, both formally called the U.S. Army Truck, 1⁄4‑ton, 4×4, Command Reconnaissance, commonly known as the Willys Jeep, Jeep, or jeep, and sometimes referred to by its Standard Army vehicle supply nr. G-503, were highly successful American off-road capable, light military utility vehicles. Well over 600,000 were built to a single standardized design, for the United States and the Allied forces in World War II, from 1941 until 1945. This also made it the world's first mass-produced four-wheel-drive car, built in six-figure numbers.
The U.S. Military M274 Truck, Platform, Utility, 1⁄2 Ton, 4X4 or "Carrier, Light Weapons, Infantry, 1⁄2 ton, 4x4", also known as the "Mule", "Military Mule", or "Mechanical Mule", is a 4-wheel drive, gasoline-powered truck/tractor type vehicle that can carry up to 1⁄2 short ton off-road. It was introduced in 1956 and used until the 1980s.
An infantry mobility vehicle (IMV) is a wheeled armored personnel carrier (APC) serving as a military patrol, reconnaissance or security vehicle. Examples include the ATF Dingo, Iveco LMV, Oshkosh M-ATV, AMZ Dzik, AMZ Tur, Mungo ESK, and Bushmaster IMV. This term also applies to those vehicles fielded as part of the MRAP program.
The Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle (CUCV) is a vehicle program instituted to provide the United States military with light utility vehicles based on civilian trucks.
The Ford GPA "Seep", with supply catalog number G504, was an amphibious version of the World War II Ford GPW jeep.
The GAZ-46, army designation MAV, is a Soviet-made light four-wheel drive amphibious military vehicle that entered service in the 1950s and has been used by many Eastern Bloc allied forces since.
The 1+1⁄4-ton, 4×4, Kaiser Jeep M715, sometimes called the "Five quarter (ton)", for its 1+1⁄4 ton payload rating, is an American light military truck, based on the civilian Jeep Gladiator (SJ). Design and development for the M715 began in 1965, intended to replace the Dodge M37. In a departure from its purpose-built predecessor, the M715 was the first "M"-series U.S. tactical vehicle to use primarily commercial components; the first in a series of militarized commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicle procurements.
The Jeep trailer was a small, 1⁄4 short ton payload rated, cargo trailer, designed in World War II, tailored to be towed by 1/4-ton jeeps. Versions of the quarter-ton jeep trailer remained in military use, by the U.S. or other countries, at least through to the 1990s.
The Dodge WC series is a prolific range of light 4WD and medium 6WD military utility trucks, produced by Chrysler under the Dodge and Fargo marques during World War II. Together with the 1⁄4-ton jeeps produced by Willys and Ford, the Dodge 1⁄2‑ton G-505 and 3⁄4‑ton G-502 trucks made up nearly all of the light 4WD trucks supplied to the U.S. military in WWII – with Dodge contributing some 337,500 4WD units.
The Willys MC, formally the 1⁄4-Ton, 4 x 4, Utility Truck M38, or the G‑740 by its U.S. Army Standard Nomenclature supply catalog designation, is a quarter-ton four-wheel drive military light utility vehicle made by Willys between 1949 and 1952. It replaced, and succeeded the World War II Willys MB and Ford GPW models, with a total production of some 50,000 units — less than one tenth the number of WWII models built. Unlike during WWII, Ford was no longer involved in the production.
The Pinzgauer is a family of high-mobility all-terrain 4WD (4×4) and 6WD (6×6) military utility vehicles. The vehicle was originally developed in the late 1960s and manufactured by Steyr-Daimler-Puch of Graz, Austria, and was named after the Pinzgauer, an Austrian breed of cattle. They were most recently manufactured at Guildford in Surrey, England by BAE Systems Land & Armaments. It was popular amongst military buyers, and continued in production there throughout the rest of the century.
Einheits-Pkw der Wehrmacht – literally: "standard passenger motor-car of the Wehrmacht" – was the Nazi German plan for a new, multi-purpose fleet of all wheel drive off-road vehicles, based on just three uniform chassis, specifically designed and built for the Wehrmacht. The plan was formulated in 1934, and vehicles were built from 1936 to 1943.
The Lamborghini Militaria were a series of off-road utility trucks produced by automotive manufacturer Lamborghini. It was started as an attempt at the military light utility truck market. The vehicles in the series are greatly reminiscent of the FMC XR311, and is in turn reminiscent of the Humvee. The series expanded into the luxury sport utility market, and its primary production run was the Lamborghini LM002, which sold over 300 units. It is considered the pioneer of the luxury sport utility market, all other comparable vehicles being utility rather than luxury. This chassis family existed from 1977 through 1993.
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