Desert Colored Humvees

I was driving home this afternoon from a trip up to my property in northern Michigan. While on M-65 southbound, I passed 3 US tractors with flatbed trailers hauling desert colored Humvees. It didn't seem like an odd occurence with the exception of what I thought looked like castle shaped reinforced turrets on top of them. There were 3 Humvees on each trailer, 9 total, headed north on M-65 through some po-dunk towns and not on the main artery of I-75 north bound. Where these were going, I have no idea. I wish I had picures to share, but I don't. Had I seen these Humvees without the large uniquely shaped turrets on them, I wouldn't have even thought about writing about it. I don't even know if those were turrets or some sort of technological system. Anyone else seen these or have pics that they can share?

reply to post by DamnedDirtyApes


It's an armoured turret to protect the gunner from sniper fire.............It's quite obvious what it is...........They've been using them for like 2-3 years........

www.defenseindustrydaily.com...


^^ that turret?

www.defenseindustrydaily.com...

reply to post by Harlequin


Those are the ones. I've never seen a Humvee with that type turret on it, then again, I'm not current with military vehicles. Thanks for the links.

Hey thats pretty cool. Nice to see our boys over there got some protection. How effective are they though? Looks pretty cubersome, and i would venture to think that some of the metal blocks peripheal vison sort of too.

But then again, i aint no military expert. Still, a manned .50 cal. with 360 protection that can be on the move in a moments notice, gotta love it.

You have to give the gunners some protection. They are a prime target for snipers, and their position makes them especially voulnerable to IED fragments.

The turrets have their problems. HMMWVs weren't designed to be an armored vehicle, they were in fact meant to be nothing more than a cargo truck. They have problems mounting large caliber machine guns, the armor gets in the way of feeding and extraction. Slewing the turret is considerably harder with the armor on.

The turret idea (as with most up-armor improvments) comes from field improvization. Soldiers have been bolting up bullet-proof glass on the turrets of several vehicles for years now.

As intrusive as it is, I'll take survivability over target aquisition on my soldiers' vehicles any day.