Buffalo (mine protected vehicle)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Buffalo H mine-protected vehicle
Buffalo H
General characteristics
Crew	2 + 12
Length	8.20 m (26.92 ft)
Width	2.46 m (8.08 ft)
Height	2.97 m (9.75 ft)
Weight	20.56 t
Armour and armament
Armour
Main armament	.50-cal M2 MG
Secondary armament
Mobility
Power plant	Mack ASET AI-400 Diesel 330 KW (450 HP)
Suspension	4×6 wheeled
Road speed	105 km/h (65 mph)
Power/weight
Range	615 km (382 mi)

The Buffalo mine protected vehicle built by Force Protection Inc and is based on the successful South African Casspir mine-protected vehicle. The United States currently has a limited number of Buffaloes in service, and an order for 36 more, at a cost of $10 million.^[1]

Where the Casspir was a four wheeled vehicle, the Buffalo has another pair of wheels. They are also fitted with a large articulated arm, which an operator can use to examine a suspected mine, at a safe distance, remaining under cover.

What the vehicles have in common is they have a "V" shaped monohull that directs the force of the blast away from the occupants.^[2]

Iraqi insurgents have nicknamed it "the claw", for its claw like scoop at the end of its telescopic arm used for ordnance disposal. So effective is it at countering IED that graffiti has appeared in different areas with messages such as "Kill the Claw !!" written in arabic.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Production history 1.1 Variants 1.2 Operators 2 Film 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Production history

[edit] Variants

• Buffalo H

[edit] Operators

•  United States - 19
•  Mexico - 22

[edit] Film

The Buffalo will appear as the Decepticon named Bonecrusher in the movie Transformers.

[edit] See also

• Casspir
• Cougar
• RG-33
• Cheetah MMPV

[edit] References

1. ↑  Buffalo helps protect from bullets, blasts, Department of Defense, September 10, 2004
2. ↑  Combat engineers comb streets of Iraq for IEDs, Department of Defense, July 8, 2005