Persian Gulf star Humvee back in spotlight - USA Today

[Klaus]

Persian Gulf star Humvee back in spotlight
By David Kiley, USA TODAY

DETROIT — Automakers are attempting to make inroads into the U.S. military truck fleet with toughened-up pickups and sport-utility vehicles, but the Humvee is still the vehicle of choice for the troops. And it's getting its time in the spotlight during the Iraq war just as it did in the last Persian Gulf War.

Most civilians first became aware of Humvee, the muscular and super-tough ultra-SUV, during 1991's Desert Storm. Humvee was such a star that it spawned a street version, the Hummer H1. That, in turn, has led to the smaller Hummer H2. (Comparison: Humvee Hummer and H1 Civilian)

U.S. armed forces have about 140,000 Humvees, according to AM General, the South Bend, Ind., manufacturer that makes the military vehicle. More than 10,000 are in the Persian Gulf right now.

There have been discussions about replacing some Humvees. At about $62,000 for a base model cargo carrier that gets less than 10 miles per gallon of gas, they are pricey for running the Army's equivalent of errands.

"But so far, it has demonstrated a characteristic beyond versatility that service people love — they are hard to break," says Craig MacNabb, AM General communications director.

The Humvee, officially known as the HMMWV (High Mobility, Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle), replaced the Jeep as the Army's basic utility vehicle in 1985. It's role is nothing short of a mobile fox hole. Besides carrying soldiers, it also:

Is a military ambulance and police vehicle.
Carries or tows light howitzers and mortars, serves as a mobile mount for machine guns and can launch Stinger missiles.
Is a platform for the Army's mobile cell phone and satellite systems.
Is used for tactical reconnaissance.
The Humvee also has been given a role in homeland defense. It has been outfitted with the Avenger air defense system to guard the White House, the Pentagon and other government buildings in and around Washington.

With the Avenger system, a Humvee has radar and the ability to rapidly fire eight Stinger missiles.

The Humvee in use in the Persian Gulf area today is an upgraded version of the one used in Desert Storm. Today's Humvee has a more powerful 6.5-liter engine mated to an electronic four-speed transmission. The original's engine was 6.2 liters with a three-speed transmission. The newer version also has tougher corrosion protection, stiffer suspension and optional armor that is paired with a turbo-powered engine. It has been given three-point seatbelts, more comfortable seats, sand-resistant engine seals and an optional payload capacity of 5,100 pounds.

"We learned a lot in Desert Storm about how to make it more reliable in harsh, hot desert conditions," says Phil Meengs, deputy project manager of light tactical vehicles for the Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM).

"Since Desert Storm, there isn't a cotter pin that hasn't been upgraded, redesigned and replaced," MacNabb says. "But the basic geometry of the vehicle has stayed the same."

Soldiers can patrol unfriendly areas in armored Humvees outfitted with guns or missiles, and have defense against bullets, grenades and even land mines that would have flipped a World War II Jeep Willys. An "up-armored" Humvee costs $140,000, but can withstand a 12-pound land mine in the front and a four-pound mine in the back. Earlier this month, an armored Humvee's occupants were uninjured after it was driven over a land mine in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

"I love the Humvee," says John Gresham, a military analyst who co-authored Special Forces with Tom Clancy. "You take away the Humvee, and you reduce the overall mobility, utility and deployability of this Army by at least half."

After the Sept. 11 attacks, General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler Group hustled plans for heavy-duty SUVs and pickups that might augment the Humvee military fleet and offer an alternative to border patrol and Homeland Security forces.

GM has sold some heavy-duty, specially reinforced pickups to the British Army to run alongside tanks in a training facility, and some are being tested by the U.S. Border Patrol. Chrysler has a beefed-up Dodge Ram pickup with a gas-electric hybrid engine that will be in testing until 2005. But AM General isn't ceding anything to the Big Three. It will start building gas-electric hybrid Humvees in late 2005, turning the Army's stalwart into a rolling electricity generator.

After all the publicity and CNN footage of Humvee during Desert Storm, AM General was deluged with calls from fans seeking a civilian version. In 1992, it began selling the demilitarized Hummer H1. So far, about 11,000 of the street-legal Hummers have been sold, mostly to movie stars, pro athletes and millionaire ranchers for $90,000-plus.

In December 1999, AM General sold the rights to the Hummer brand to GM, which markets the H1 and the smaller H2, which is built off the bones of a Chevy Tahoe.

Alan Ferguson, a retired high school history teacher in Scottsdale, Ariz., bid unsuccessfully recently on a 2000 open-top H1 offered on eBay. "It's just so much fun to take them in the desert, and my grandkids are very into it. I'll get one yet in my price range," he says.

Some H1 owners aren't in it for fun. CNN purchased a few H1s from a used-car dealer in Kuwait to haul its producers, reporters and cameras around the desert in the new war. And the U.S. Border Patrol recently ordered 100 civilian-grade H1s to patrol sections of the U.S.-Mexican border that were beating up its lighter Tahoes and Ford Explorers.

Now, GM is on track to sell 33,000 H2s this year, 10% above its target when the vehicle first went on sale last summer for about $50,000. GM also is close to approving production of an even smaller Hummer built off a Chevy Trailblazer.

GM is sheepishly positive about the effect of a new war on business, not even planning to shelve advertising for its H2 while hostilities are on.

"Of course, we realize the connection to the military images. That's why we bought the brand," says Hummer spokesman Pete Ternes.

Contributing: Gannett News Service

[Klaus]

Persian Gulf star Humvee back in spotlight
By David Kiley, USA TODAY

DETROIT — Automakers are attempting to make inroads into the U.S. military truck fleet with toughened-up pickups and sport-utility vehicles, but the Humvee is still the vehicle of choice for the troops. And it's getting its time in the spotlight during the Iraq war just as it did in the last Persian Gulf War.

Most civilians first became aware of Humvee, the muscular and super-tough ultra-SUV, during 1991's Desert Storm. Humvee was such a star that it spawned a street version, the Hummer H1. That, in turn, has led to the smaller Hummer H2. (Comparison: Humvee Hummer and H1 Civilian)

U.S. armed forces have about 140,000 Humvees, according to AM General, the South Bend, Ind., manufacturer that makes the military vehicle. More than 10,000 are in the Persian Gulf right now.

There have been discussions about replacing some Humvees. At about $62,000 for a base model cargo carrier that gets less than 10 miles per gallon of gas, they are pricey for running the Army's equivalent of errands.

"But so far, it has demonstrated a characteristic beyond versatility that service people love — they are hard to break," says Craig MacNabb, AM General communications director.

The Humvee, officially known as the HMMWV (High Mobility, Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle), replaced the Jeep as the Army's basic utility vehicle in 1985. It's role is nothing short of a mobile fox hole. Besides carrying soldiers, it also:

Is a military ambulance and police vehicle.
Carries or tows light howitzers and mortars, serves as a mobile mount for machine guns and can launch Stinger missiles.
Is a platform for the Army's mobile cell phone and satellite systems.
Is used for tactical reconnaissance.
The Humvee also has been given a role in homeland defense. It has been outfitted with the Avenger air defense system to guard the White House, the Pentagon and other government buildings in and around Washington.

With the Avenger system, a Humvee has radar and the ability to rapidly fire eight Stinger missiles.

The Humvee in use in the Persian Gulf area today is an upgraded version of the one used in Desert Storm. Today's Humvee has a more powerful 6.5-liter engine mated to an electronic four-speed transmission. The original's engine was 6.2 liters with a three-speed transmission. The newer version also has tougher corrosion protection, stiffer suspension and optional armor that is paired with a turbo-powered engine. It has been given three-point seatbelts, more comfortable seats, sand-resistant engine seals and an optional payload capacity of 5,100 pounds.

"We learned a lot in Desert Storm about how to make it more reliable in harsh, hot desert conditions," says Phil Meengs, deputy project manager of light tactical vehicles for the Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM).

"Since Desert Storm, there isn't a cotter pin that hasn't been upgraded, redesigned and replaced," MacNabb says. "But the basic geometry of the vehicle has stayed the same."

Soldiers can patrol unfriendly areas in armored Humvees outfitted with guns or missiles, and have defense against bullets, grenades and even land mines that would have flipped a World War II Jeep Willys. An "up-armored" Humvee costs $140,000, but can withstand a 12-pound land mine in the front and a four-pound mine in the back. Earlier this month, an armored Humvee's occupants were uninjured after it was driven over a land mine in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

"I love the Humvee," says John Gresham, a military analyst who co-authored Special Forces with Tom Clancy. "You take away the Humvee, and you reduce the overall mobility, utility and deployability of this Army by at least half."

After the Sept. 11 attacks, General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler Group hustled plans for heavy-duty SUVs and pickups that might augment the Humvee military fleet and offer an alternative to border patrol and Homeland Security forces.

GM has sold some heavy-duty, specially reinforced pickups to the British Army to run alongside tanks in a training facility, and some are being tested by the U.S. Border Patrol. Chrysler has a beefed-up Dodge Ram pickup with a gas-electric hybrid engine that will be in testing until 2005. But AM General isn't ceding anything to the Big Three. It will start building gas-electric hybrid Humvees in late 2005, turning the Army's stalwart into a rolling electricity generator.

After all the publicity and CNN footage of Humvee during Desert Storm, AM General was deluged with calls from fans seeking a civilian version. In 1992, it began selling the demilitarized Hummer H1. So far, about 11,000 of the street-legal Hummers have been sold, mostly to movie stars, pro athletes and millionaire ranchers for $90,000-plus.

In December 1999, AM General sold the rights to the Hummer brand to GM, which markets the H1 and the smaller H2, which is built off the bones of a Chevy Tahoe.

Alan Ferguson, a retired high school history teacher in Scottsdale, Ariz., bid unsuccessfully recently on a 2000 open-top H1 offered on eBay. "It's just so much fun to take them in the desert, and my grandkids are very into it. I'll get one yet in my price range," he says.

Some H1 owners aren't in it for fun. CNN purchased a few H1s from a used-car dealer in Kuwait to haul its producers, reporters and cameras around the desert in the new war. And the U.S. Border Patrol recently ordered 100 civilian-grade H1s to patrol sections of the U.S.-Mexican border that were beating up its lighter Tahoes and Ford Explorers.

Now, GM is on track to sell 33,000 H2s this year, 10% above its target when the vehicle first went on sale last summer for about $50,000. GM also is close to approving production of an even smaller Hummer built off a Chevy Trailblazer.

GM is sheepishly positive about the effect of a new war on business, not even planning to shelve advertising for its H2 while hostilities are on.

"Of course, we realize the connection to the military images. That's why we bought the brand," says Hummer spokesman Pete Ternes.

Contributing: Gannett News Service