Gun trucks and convoy escorts

[Raellus]

How about these?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_...tical_Vehicles

It looks like they entered service, IRL, before '96, so one might encounter this line of trucks in either T2K timeline. If you do a Google search for images, you will see a few "gun-truck" versions with armored cabs and weapon station. One could easily set up some armor panels around the bed and add a couple more GPMGs and voila!

[schnickelfritz]

Over the last 10-15 years there have been a significant number of M35 series vehicles on the US surplus market...nowadays I'm seeing a number of them being surplussed out from second or third owners...in these cases state entities (Wisconsin in particular).

A friend has a 1952? M211 that came...of all things...from his local High School's bus garage where it was used as a snow plow truck for a number of years, The engine, transmission, and steering are all 1990's GMC bus parts.

Normally I see M35 series vehicles being used as brush or off road fire trucks with a semi portable fire apparatus. When they get done with them, they remove the fire apparatus from the bed and auction the truck off.

I even see a Kaiser M715 from time to time come up this way, although Chevy CUCV's and Dodge M880's (less so) are more common.

I believe many M151's were torch cut to destroy them due to the bad rap they got from rollovers rather than sold surplus in numbers...you see original/restored M151's but they aren't very common. At times it is easier to find a surplus HMMWV for sale.

There is a place 30 mile NW of here that does armored civillian vehicles, so a place like that can be an option too. If anything, I would thing the experience of the staff remaining there would vbe almost invaluable.

-Dave

[pmulcahy11b]

This discussion dovetails with something I asked here about a year ago; I recall that we never came up with a satisfactory answer. Every military vehicle, be it on exercise, in combat, or in war footage has the exterior of the vehicle practically covered with personal gear, food, extra water, etc. What sort of AV would this kind of stuff make (if only temporary...). I would think it might at least break up a plasma jet from a HEAT round.

[pmulcahy11b]

Here's another thing you could armor up with (though they'd be rare) are EOD armor blankets. They use them to throw over explosives when they need to contain an explosion they believe to be imminent. Police would be more likely to have them than military. They're generally of Kevlar/glass fiber construction, and they're pretty much heavy blankets. Might solve your spall liner problem if you can find enough.

[Targan]

Paul, when I was a shotfirer we had blast mats that performed a similar function to the EOD blankets you describe. We used them to prevent flyrock from surface or shallow sub-surface charges, and to protect vulnerable objects near blast sites. They could certainly withstand the effects of detonating small charges in direct contact.

Ours were made from cut sections of worn out steel radial belted tyres, stitched together with heavy gauge wire. Cheap and easy to put together but due to their weight not as portable as the ones you mentioned and ours wouldn't have been as fire resistant either.

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

This discussion dovetails with something I asked here about a year ago; I recall that we never came up with a satisfactory answer. Every military vehicle, be it on exercise, in combat, or in war footage has the exterior of the vehicle practically covered with personal gear, food, extra water, etc. What sort of AV would this kind of stuff make (if only temporary...). I would think it might at least break up a plasma jet from a HEAT round.

Speaking from experience, not much.

A Brad was knocked out by a RPG back when I was over, and the round pretty much ignored the duffels as it blew past them and into the rear of the track.

Unoccupied, thankfully, but it did mission kill the Brad.

[Targan]

That makes sense in terms of how shaped charge warheads work. They usually have to strike a solid object to detonate. Packs, ration cartons, plastic containers, cammo nets, ponchos, clothing, these are all materials that would tend to collapse, give way or be pushed aside by a flying projectile. The plasma jet can't be dissipated if it hasn't yet been formed.

[Panther Al]

I think thats part of it: the rest I think can be attributed to the fact that the usual soft items found in the bags really don't attrit the jet all that much if at all: the plasma is meant to cut through steel: a bag full of uniforms isn't gonna faze it.

[Targan]

I wonder if having soft items like bags and rucks hanging over reactive armor blocks would affect the reliability/effectiveness of the reactive armor. Obviously if a block detonated it would shred soft items on top of it.