It seems the HMMWV is on its way out. What are your thoughts?

While many will complain about the costs, if it better protects our Soldiers, Sailors, Airment and Marines when asked to put their lives on the line, it is worth the cost. Protecting our Nations most precious resource, our sons and daughters is of the utmost importance! I look forward to seeing this on mission!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oMuGPeiuRo

I saw on of these when I was in the Stan and wasn't impressed. The Hummer wasn't suited for the mission over there, but it did give mobility where my Cougar gave strength and capability. I'm also biased towards the Cougar with what I was able to carry in terms of cargo, weapons, and ammo, and I also liked the Hummer for some of the same reasons. I'm glad this is going to an American company, that will employ folks in a time where jobs are scarce, and maybe I'll get the chance to drive one of these and change my mind on it.

This has obviously been on the way for a long time. The MRAP was a questionable design for a quick solution to a problem. Wasn't the long term answer though. The problem with the HMMWV (a venerable mule of a system) isn't the HMMWV itself. It could certainly do everything that it was supposed to do back when. The problem lies in the other systems that we have added to it. Think back to the first HMMWV's. They had a HMMWV and a radio...maybe a weapon system. That was it. Now there are DUKES and RHINOS and FBCB2 and PLGGRS, and acoustic sensors and a small goat attached to the thing. The lack of armor doesn't help either, but that's not as big of an issue now. There isn't space in a HMMWV because of what has been added to it. We need to make sure we take that knowledge forward with the JLTV or we will run into the same issues in the future.

I never saw a Humvee. I was in and out during the era of the M151 Jeep. I remember hearing the Humvee's were coming but they had not made it before I departed in 1985.

The M151's were Vietnam era relics but were great off road vehicles. They would have never worked in the middle east with the open tops, no armor etc. and armoring them would have been difficult at best. The only way we could beef them up was putting sand bags on the floor. IED's would have destroyed them.

The Humvee was a good vehicle at the right time and the military got a lot of good use out of them and they served us well. There were the issues of getting them armored up early on in Iraq but IED's and the like were not contemplated when they were designed and I am sure the cost of armoring them initially was considered and ruled out.

It was a POS from the start. It was way too big for what it could actually carry. 4 people and not all their gear for a vehicle twice the size of a SUV. It was too wide to drive anywhere overseas. If you needed something on the other side of post you had to drive this huge monstrosity. Don't even get me started on the seats. It was just a freaking nightmare.

What we need is a smaller vehicle that we can actually get around in. Like a JEEP!

My thoughts are probably the same as every other veteran's thoughts. Which country gets all the old stuff and when do we expect to go to war against them?

Sounds like another highly overpriced vehicle, that will have huge problems, survivability issues and major delays in construction - is there any acquisition project recently that hasn't?

I loved the HMMWV and despised the UAHMMWV. The HMMWV was great for what is was designed for, which was not having tons of aftermarket armour added to it. I never had any mechanical issues with a HMMWV. I've had 3 UAHMMWVs burst into flame on me, non-combat related. What caused the fire? The fire suppression system shorting out, yes the fire suppression system caused the fire. We should have gone for a rebuild 10 years ago rather than now.

I personally believe that the HMMVW has never really been conducive to a light infantry, small unit strategy of "smaller, more lethal" .... I always felt that it was too bulky, and did not handle as well as it should in situations where speed is more important than security. Furthermore, it looks like this vehicle may be better armored than an HMMVW, which is key to future wars. I think that this is a great idea. Whether you're in an offensive position or bounding back, you always need speed and maneuverability.

I believe the way we look at IEDs is wrong - It is simply a problem to fix - as soon as we find a way to successfully avoid or even "pass through" IEDs with little to no damage, the enemy will be weakened severely - of course you do have some HUGE IEDs, but not every IED is absolutely catastrophic. If we can find a resolution to what we consider "catastrophic" today, then the smaller/"normal" IEDs will be completely harmless in vehicles - if we can figure out a way to make IEDs harmless while on foot? We'll be invincible. Just my opinion.

What concerns me more with all of this is -- what are our plans for our current equipment? Are we going to supply our future enemies? How will the politicians screw this up? Can we re-coup some money off of our old equipment? Can we get rid of armor capabilities prior to selling the HMMVWs off? Either way, in that case, as long as the new vehicle is more maneuverable, I guess it will due since we'll likely be fighting our enemy in our old vehicles anyway...

The HMMWV is probably another example of the DOD trying to make a Swiss Army knife out of a can-opener. What started out as a replacement for the "Jeep" has been converted to what amounts to a light tank...albeit with an inferior powerplant and drive train.