High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle

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General Characteristics (M998)
Manufacturer:	AM General
Length:	15 ft (4.6 m)
Width:	7 ft (2.1 m)
Height:	6 ft (1.8 m), reducable to 4.5 ft (1.4 m)
Ground clearance:	16 in (41 cm)
Weight:	5,200 lbs (~2340kg)
Speed:	over 45 mph (72.42 km/h)
Range:	350 miles highway (over 550 km)
MPG:	8-10
Crew:	2-4

This article refers to the Military HMMWV, not the civilian Hummer sold by General Motors

The M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee) is a military motor vehicle. It has largely supplanted the role formerly served by the Jeep, Gama Goat, and other light trucks with the United States military, and is also used by a number of other countries and organizations.

1 Features
2 History
3 Usage in Iraq and political implications
4 Weaknesses
5 Replacement
6 Versions
7 Humvee replicas
8 Users
9 Popular culture
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] Features

There are at least 17 variants of the HMMWV in service with the United States armed forces. HMMWV serve as cargo/troop carriers, automatic weapons platforms, ambulances (four litter patients or eight ambulatory patients), M220 TOW missile carriers, M119 howitzer prime movers, M-1097 Avenger Pedestal Mounted Stinger platforms, MRQ-12 direct air support vehicles, S250 shelter carriers among many others. It is capable of fording 2.5 ft (76 cm) normally, or 5 ft (1.5 m) with the deep-water fording kit installed.

Optional equipment includes a winch (maximum load capacity 6000 lb. (2700 kg)), and supplemental armor. The M1025 and M1043/M1044 armament carriers provide mounting and firing capabilities for the MK19 grenade launcher, the M2 heavy machine gun, the M240G/B machine gun and M249 SAW. The newly introduced M1114 "up-armored" HMMWV also features a similar weapons mount. In addition, some M1114 and M1116 up-armored and M1117 Armored Security Vehicle models feature a CROWS (common remotely operated weapon station), which allows the gunner to operate from inside the vehicle.

[edit] History

A HMMWV firing a TOW missile

In the 1970s, the United States Army concluded that the militarized civilian trucks in use no longer satisfied their requirements. In 1977, Lamborghini developed the Cheetah model to attempt to meet Army contract specifications. In 1979, the Army drafted final specifications for a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or HMMWV. In July of that year, AM General began preliminary design work, and less than a year later, the first prototype, the M998, was in testing.

In June 1981, the Army awarded AM General a contract for development of several more prototype vehicles to be delivered to the U.S. government for another series of tests, and the company was later awarded the initial production contract for 55,000 HMMWVs to be delivered in 1985. HMMWVs first saw combat in Operation Just Cause, the US invasion of Panama in 1989.

A US military humvee deployed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

They have become the backbone of U.S. forces around the world. Over 10,000 were used during Operation Iraqi Freedom by U.S. forces as well as some other countries during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

One US Humvee was captured by the Yugoslav Army during the Kosovo war and is currently on display in front of the Military Museum building on Kalemegdan Fortress Park, Belgrade, Serbia.

[edit] Usage in Iraq and political implications

A Humvee with snow treads.

Humvee with bolt-on armor kit

The HMMWV has proven very vulnerable to light infantry weapons as far back as the Somalia intervention; in its defense, it was never designed to offer such protection. With the rise of asymmetric warfare and low-intensity conflicts, the HMMWV has found itself thrust into urban combat roles it was not originally intended for. Although the large variety of HMMWV types is a testament to the vehicle's adaptability to changing mission conditions, it was never designed to be an armored personnel carrier (APC).

Although there are several armor kits available for the vehicle which afford it greater protection from small-arms fire, these were not provided in great numbers to American forces in Iraq prior to the invasion. As a result of this, American soldiers and Marines often improvise extra armor layers with scrap materials (also known as "hillbilly armor") to improve the safety of the HMMWV. While "hardening" or "up-armoring" their vehicles with sandbags, metal, and plywood does make the vehicles arguably safer, it also slows them down. It has also been argued that hardening simply creates more shrapnel when attacked with an RPG or improvised explosive device. This extra hardening further hampered the ability of the M998 and M1025 due to the addition of excess weight which overloaded the suspension and drivetrain components of these HMMWVs. Performance issues due to the high center of gravity and extra weight of up-armoring kits increase the risk of sway and rollover. Unlike similar-size civilian cargo and tow trucks, which typically have dual rear wheels to reduce sway, the HMMWV has single rear wheels. The independent rear suspension coupled with the body design may preclude "dually" configuration which is the standard for solid-axle trucks of that weight range.

In response to the vulnerability of HMMWVs operating in Iraq, the U.S. Department of Defense contracted AM General to make the M1114 Uparmored HMMWV. The M1114 has been in limited production since 1996 and had seen limited use in the Balkans before deployment to the Middle East. This design has a larger, more powerful engine with a turbocharger, air conditioning and a strengthened suspension and boasts a fully armored passenger area protected by hardened steel and bullet-proof glass. With the increase in direct attacks and guerilla warfare in Iraq AM General has diverted the majority of its manufacturing power to producing these vehicles.

In December 2004, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld came under criticism from U.S. soldiers and their families for not providing better equipped HMMWV [1]. Rumsfeld pointed out that, prior to the war, armor kits were produced only in small numbers per year. As the role of American forces in Iraq changed from fighting the Iraqi Army to suppressing the guerrilla insurgency, armor kits were being manufactured as fast as additional production facilities could be brought online. Armor aggravates the severe inherent performance limitations of a light truck with independent suspension, but it does offer improved protection. Other countries experienced in urban war such as Russia and Israel rely on armored personnel carriers, but the wheeled HMMWV fits current anti-track sentiment among Army senior leadership as exemplified by the Stryker and other wheeled systems. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Weaknesses

As an unarmoured vehicle it is vulnerable to just about any weapon capable of hitting it. RPG and AKM fire will penetrate any model without the up-armor conversion kit, and is capable of producing casualties. Besides fire from infantry, it is also vulnerable to roadside bombs (IEDs and land mines).The armor on most up-armored HMMWV's holds up well against lateral attacks, when the blast is distributed in all different directions, but offers little protection from a blast below the truck. The soldier crewing the weapon on top of the vehicle is extremely vunerable, however, the U.S. military is currently testing a new form of protection, developed by BAE Systems. The new gunner's seat is protected by 1.5' to 2' (45.72 - 60.96 cm) high steel plates with bullet-proof glass windows. Additionally, some HMMWV use CROWS, which slaves the machine gun to controls in the back seat to allow remote operation.

[edit] Replacement

The ULTRA AP - a concept vehicle for a possible HMMWV replacement

The US government is seeking a replacement for the AM General truck, and the U.S. Army's Tank and Automotive Command is currently refereeing a prototype competition. Navistar International and Lockheed Martin are participating, while AM General has not been selected.

The Marine Corps is also looking into replacements for the HMMWV. The Office of Naval Research is funding Georgia Tech's ULTRA AP, a combat concept vehicle based on the F350 chassis, but with a "blast bucket" passenger compartment, and Ultra 3T, a project with more advanced (but unproven) technologies.

[edit] Versions

Humvee with a communications dish

A partial listing of U.S. versions:

M56 Coyote
M707 HMMWV
M966 HMMWV TOW Armored
M996 Mini-Ambulance, Armored
M997 Maxi-Ambulance, Armored
M998 Cargo/Troop
M998 HMMWV Avenger
M1025 Armament Carrier, Armored
M1026 Armament Carrier, Armored W/W
M1035 Soft-Top Ambulance
M1036 TOW Armored W/W
M1037 S-250 Shelter Carrier
M1038 Cargo/Troop Carrier W/W
M1042 S-250 Shelter Carrier W/W
M1043 Armament Carrier, Up-Armored
M1044 Armament Carrier, Up-Armored W/W
M1045 TOW Up-Armored Armor
M1046 TOW Up-Armored Armor W/W
M1059 Smoke Generator Carrier
M1069 Tractor for M119 105-mm Gun
M1097 Heavy
M1097 Heavy HMMWV Avenger
M1109 Up-Armored Armament Carrier
M1113 Expanded Capacity
M1114 Up-Armored Armament Carrier
M1116 Up-Armored HMMWV
M1123 Heavy
M1121 TOW Armored
M1145 Up-Armored HMMWV
M1151 Up-Armored Capable HMMWV
M1152 Up-Armored Capable HMMWV

[edit] Humvee replicas

Due to the popularity of the Humvee, there have been kits produced for building a humvee-replica yourself. The kits do not allow you to build a humvee from scratch (kitcar), they do allow you to rebuild a sedan to a humvee-lookalike, alternatively one can also just buy a preconstructed (or turnkey) wombat. Various kits probably exist, but the most famous is the "Wombat" (-or previous HummBug). The former vehicle can be purchased for $18,000.00, considerably cheaper than the actual Humvee ($56,400.00), or Hummer.

[edit] Users

The HMMWV is not only used by the US military but many other countries as well:

Argentina
Israel (1000+)
Republic of Macedonia
Chile (200+)
Thailand
Morocco
Mexico (1000+)
Turkey
Romania
Serbia (50)
Saudi Arabia
Iraq used by the New Iraqi Army and Iraqi Security Forces.
Afghanistan used by the new Afghan National Army.
Lithuania
Slovenia (30)
Poland (217 + 233 in future)
United States (30000+)
The UK tried the HMMWV in the early 1990's but were critical of the vehicle and continued using the Land Rover Wolf as their primary utility vehicle.

[edit] Popular culture

The Humvee has appeared in almost every military-themed film and video game set in modern times since 1989 and has become as much of an icon for the modern U.S. military as the Jeep was for U.S. forces in World War II.