Where to get this ride?

[Erwin]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a25781/army-ripsaw-tank-no-plans/

[John Kettler]

Erwin,

Religiously watched that show and was quite excited by the things I saw being made. Had completely lost track of the whole shebang, though. Ripsaw is simply not the kind of thing that gets Army leadership all excited, the defense contractors big money, thus, no vote garnering contracts for legislative branch types and not much money for lobbyists, either. Result? Very small rice bowls for all concerned. Nor are there likely to be stars attached to getting the program launched and successful. I think, therefore, this is really better suited to the sorts of merry mayhem SOF excels at. Oh, the havoc I could wreak with even a handful of these things!

Regards,

John Kettler

 

[John Kettler]

Erwin,

In a clip from the show, after they got their air filters sorted out a few days prior to delivery, Ripsaw MS2 clocked a blazing 72 mph! Below is the (very overproduced, head breaking for me FX dense) Howe & Howe promo video. The mobility of this thing is astounding, and it can do some other things I don't recall seeing before.

Regards,

John Kettler

 

[Erwin]

Thank goodness the US armed forces we have caught up with the Russky's video-making a music scoring technological lead. That will deter them.  What's next?  Maybe a spec ops dance off??  WE invented that.  That'll show em!

[panzersaurkrautwerfer]

But what does it actually do tactically, and is this something an ATV/off the shelf solution does well enough for cheaper?

[John Kettler]

panzersaurkrautwerfer,

It can be configured to do all manner of thing, in either drive or remote controlled configuration. It can go places no ATV can go and it's many times faster than an ATV. Presumably, it can carry at least the same weight, but likely more. Can't speak to price, since one was never mentioned on the referenced show. Ripsaw is absolutely light enough to bring in as a sling load on a helo and might actually fit inside certain models, too. The WW II M18 Hellcat could, thanks to very low ground pressure, operate where even infantry couldn't, and from what I've seen, Ripsaw could do a whole lot better than that and is stupid simple and much lighter by comparison. For comparison, " here is a selection of SEAL DPVs (Desert Patrol Vehicles (formerly FAVs (Fast Attack Vehicles), tother with the familiar non-nude Chive babes.

http://thechive.com/2015/03/22/get-through-the-week-in-the-ol-seals-favdpv-15-hq-photos/

The DPV seats three, which would be easily done for the Ripsaw. Depending on weaponry, it would be great for high speed slashing attacks on camps, depots and convoys, standoff attack (Javelin, Ma Deuce, maybe some sort of Hydra rocket launcher, etc); for getting to and from the target vicinity (as in several kilometers away) if trying to achieve a stealthy attack on infil and getting out of Dodge forthwith on exfil. These moves could be achieved at near helo speeds. CASEVAC is another obvious role. Another nasty option would be to insert a FO/CFO/CCT team behind enemy lines and call down fires from the enemy rear. In that case (or maybe routinely), bringing some sort of drone along wou;ld be a no-brainer.

My belief is that if the so-called Big Army won't buy them, Army Special Forces (perhaps including Delta) should. I believe Navy SEALs should absolutely buy Ripsaw even if the Army doesn't, for the advantages it provides are huge. If roaring DPVs powered by, say, souped up Volkswagen engines aren't an issue, why should Ripsaw be a big deal? At anything like the speed demonstrated, it would be a tough to impossible RPG target (unless close and coming more or less straight in) and probably not easy for an ATGM to engage, either.  That's without jinking. If crossing the LOS of an RPG or RPG , even a nominal hit might do nothing, since most of the presented area, if you will, is nothing but air, and the vulnerable area is small relative to that. The situation is somewhat akin to shooting at a WW I plane, in which the plane is fairly good sized, yet the critical components represent only a small portion of the exposed target.

Something else which could be done is to fit it with a powerful sound system emitting certain low frequencies which will cause people to vomit, since the sounds are at the resonant frequencies of the stomach. Have personally been exposed to a bit of these (creatable with a Bunsen burner and the right size carpet roller), and I nearly lost my dinner when the professor demonstrating various scientific phenomena at the Hughes Management Club Scholarship Awards dinner did one right on the edge of the stomach emptying frequencies. I shudder to think how the lower ones would feel. LRAD, budget and other constraints permitting, could be used to deliver that and its normal directional painful-disabling effects from hundred of meters out and voice broadcasts to way beyond there, say, two klicks. 

Regards,

John Kettler

Edited April 3, 2017 by John Kettler

[panzersaurkrautwerfer]

You know what a better choice is?

 

Regionally appropriate pickup trucks. 

 

Think about it. Howling fast mini tanks ripping up the desert sound cool, but what happens when the track breaks?  Pretty much everyone will know for sure "Americans" if you've got one of those suckers zipping around. 

 

Yet another beat up truck though?  Fix it with spares from the nearest mechanic , it blends in with the locals and you can just abandon it when you're done. 

 

The ripsaw is the worst kind of weapon, you don't build missions for weapons, you build weapons for missions, and the ripsaw has no mission. 

[Artemis258]

You have to admit though, it is kinda cute.