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Made it's debut today...

"It is a massive armored vehicle weighing 40 tons that can reach water speeds in excess of 25 knots and 45 mph on land,
all while carrying 17 Marines, oh and it has a 30mm auto-cannon as well. "

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/05/04/marines-unveil-efv-gates-takes-aim/

Looks like a cross between a Rhino, Chimera and a Leman Russ. Or just some new tank with a surf/snow board

Looks much more like a chimera to me.

Wish they had those at Iwo Jima. Too bad there's no real good application for them now.

Looks like a chimera...

Well the real use for these new vehicles will be to provide an armored transport for troops that is capable of defending itself against more than just "soft" targets. The current vehicle employed by the USMC for this is the AAV, which has been around since the Cold War. Outfitted with only .50 Cal machine guns and Mk19 Grenade Launchers, they have been lacking in the punch department for years. Additionally, the armor of the AAV is light enough to be penetrated by most medium and all heavy machine guns.

The EFV has a 30mm "autocannon" that can fire either air burst or HEAP (High Explosive Armored Piercing) munitions, giving it the ability to deploy Marines with significantly more firepower. What's more, the armor on the EFV has been designed such that it can withstand significantly more punishment as compared to its predecessor. Finally, the EFV is a hell of a lot faster and well...who can argue that faster isn't better?

if they paint it red it will go fasta!!

It really looks like a Chimera.... sooner or later GW will claim rights....

Is this in preparation for the war with Iran?

I hope not.

:S

Nthing the Chimera comparison. Low to the ground, wide, boxy, and with a small turret.

Eh, sure it looks like a Chimera...something closer to a real world Land Raider, complete with Machine Spirit!

http://dvice.com/archives/2007/11/ripsaw-is-the-biggest-baddest.php



Then again...the tank that the Land Raider was based off of was used during World War I as pictured here:

There's a hull of that last tank in the main hall, just on your left as you walk into the Imperial War Museum in London. It's frickin' sweet!

Sweet a new snow plowing tank.. Probably would get more use out of it that way considering we havent fought a war that has needed tanks in 50 years

Actually tanks are coming in very handy in Afghanistan.

Kirasu wrote:Sweet a new snow plowing tank.. Probably would get more use out of it that way considering we havent fought a war that has needed tanks in 50 years

Desert Storm? 2003 Invasion of Iraq?


Just sayin'.

Needs a couple of Flamestorm Cannons, then she'll be a dead killy beast.

Unholy_Martyr wrote:Well the real use for these new vehicles will be to provide an armored transport for troops ......who can argue that faster isn't better?

While one can hardly argue the need to replace the aged and undergunned and -armoured AAV, I do not believe that this vehicle is the best fit solution that we need to to get you where you need to go. The Osprey developmental woes? Unfortunate, but what a machine and the mission is certainly needed. It's a GREAT fit. This beast? It needs a method to defeat anti-ship missles with a 75 mile range (as the article quotes, the Chinese C-802 and others) and that method is not going to be something you can graft onto a vehicle that size.

I would not do a Marine the disservice of riding him onto the beach in a vehicle that is going to stop moving very, very shortly after gettign there. Might as well hand the clerks their rank and notify the families before they launch.

The options are to abandon the mission as archaic, redesign the vehicle, or add a support strategy to mask the inbound tracks.

That looks alot like the Striker combat vehicle we have sitting outside our office.

We have a saying here in the DOD, we are 20 years ahead of the civilians. Meening that what you think we have now, we really had 20 years ago.

So you have giant robots that are combat ready?

Wow. Enormous. 40 Tons!? It's not like the Abram weighs nearly 70 or anything...

And Tanks are still one of the most important battlefield asset modern Armies have. (@ Kirasu)

. . . yah!!! a prototype that is very likely to get cut by the DoD since the navy and marine corps are getting cut down now that DoD is finished with army and air force

Pft, you need to stop pampering your armed forces or they will go soft.

That is why the British Army is so good - we give them guns that don't fire, radios that don't work and boots that simply fall apart - then we don't give them any logistical or combat support.

This ensures that our guys are so hard they can go out and kick more ass than anyone one else.

I cant find a link on my phone, but our marines have fantastic land raiders. They put me through my heavy goods licence so i could drive one, i think we introduced them in about 2006? Its called 'Viking' and it is a bullet-proof monster of a vehicle that saved our asses numerous times in Afghanistan. I also recall with amusement the time one popped up behind the Taliban during a contact in Kajaki and started brassing them all up. In the post patrol briefing our terp said he heard them shout on the radio 'theis tank swims!' :-)

8 termis yeah!

mattyrm wrote:I cant find a link on my phone, but our marines have fantastic land raiders. They put me through my heavy goods licence so i could drive one, i think we introduced them in about 2006? Its called 'Viking' and it is a bullet-proof monster of a vehicle that saved our asses numerous times in Afghanistan. I also recall with amusement the time one popped up behind the Taliban during a contact in Kajaki and started brassing them all up. In the post patrol briefing our terp said he heard them shout on the radio 'theis tank swims!' :-)

This one?

its a land train !

Thats it KK, awesome bit of kit. The slightly odd looking bars running around it are to cause rockets to detonate before they actually hit the side armour, this negates the armour piercing effect. And i can confirm they work, we had one roll up when we were under heavy fire and all sorts was bouncing off the bad boy with no ill effect.

The underneath is its only weakpoint, and we lost a driver once when he rolled over a few anti tank mines stacked up.

The Royal Marines were the only guys to have them, but after a few years use i think they have been so succesful they are trying to roll them out forces wide.

Yea it's really hard to properly Armour the bottom of a vehicle without sacrificing all mobility.

and i still say its a squat land train

The problem the MRAP project faced is that improved survival against mines and IEDs requires more armour and a V shaped bottom hull to deflect the blast.

This makes the vehicle heavier and makes the sides higher, making them a taller target. Also the centre of gravity is raised so the vehicle is more prone to tipping.

There's a balance between building an army for the war you expect to fight, and allowing for breadth and diversity, so an army can adapt to fight the war it didn't see coming. As a result I'm a little wary about the talk about cutting out so much conventional weapons, because you just don't know what future engagements might be.

On the other hand, the US defence budget is ludicrously high, and the long term financial sustainability of the country will probably need to see defence spending cut to about half it's current level over the next couple of decades. In that environment, every dollar spent on a new prototype for some specialist mission is one less dollar for body armour and kit for the foot soldiers you know will be doing the same patrols they're doing now.

But there's also point for looking cool, and that thing does look pretty cool, a hell of a lot cooler than that Viking thing, which is about the ugliest bit of military gear I've seen in a long while.