Jackal 2

[Meach]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8011315.stm

Don't know if BFC would be interested in this article? Maybe a bit late in the day to go changing the model of the Jackal ingame tho.

[Thomm]

Perhaps the most interesting vehicle in CM:British Forces.

Hopefully it turn out not to be just a "coffin for three brothers" in the average CM:SF environment.

Best regards,

Thomm

[Sivodsi]

what the army is now buying is called Jackal 2, although many of the changes from its predecessor are rather subtle.

Seems that there are only minor changes, so maybe room for it in a patch

Perhaps the biggest change is that there is now room for 4 soldiers, up from 3 in Jackal 1, and the mg being in a slightly different place.

[Meach]

I have to wonder at the wisdom of putting in Land Rovers in a battle situation that is supposed to be CMSF. I think the Jackal might just go the same route, a flaming wreck.

[MikeyD]

I had to laugh, there's certain 'required' shots when covering an armored vehicle. The 'money shot' seems to be the vehicle driving fast through a puddle and the water spraying up. I've seen that exact shot a hundred times, everything from Stuarts to Sheridans to SUVs. And of course a convenient mud puddle was located for this clip too

[Dietrich]

I look forward to using Jackals in Pathfinder-Platoon-in-Helmand-and-elsewhere scenarios . . . once the button-up-as-soon-as-you-come-under-fire behavior is fixed/adjusted.

I like the idea of a vehicle that's more or less as mobile as a HMMWV but has twice as many guns and about 50% more firepower (50-cal MG plus GPMG rather than just an M2).

[TheVulture]

I look forward to using Jackals in Pathfinder-Platoon-in-Helmand-and-elsewhere scenarios . . . once the button-up-as-soon-as-you-come-under-fire behavior is fixed/adjusted.

How do you button up a Jackal, exactly?

[flamingknives]

The survivability of Jackals (and any softskins) depends on the situations you put them up against. The Jackal is a light infantry vehicle and if you try and put light infantry against armour then they will lose badly.

In a light infantry environment they should do very well.

[BlackMoria]

How do you button up a Jackal, exactly?

That is a good question. Nice looking machine and all, but the crew, particularly the driver and front gunner look awfully exposed to me.... and no where to go elsewhere in the vehicle.

[Dietrich]

How do you button up a Jackal, exactly?

That is a good question. Nice looking machine and all, but the crew, particularly the driver and front gunner look awfully exposed to me.... and no where to go elsewhere in the vehicle.

By "button up" (in reference to the Jackal), I don't mean "duck back down to where one is protected by armor"; I mean "leave weapon station".

In the case of the HMMWV, buttoning up affords the gunner the protection of the vehicle's limited armor, yet exposes the vehicle itself as well as its crew to greater incoming fire due to the discontinuation of suppressive fire from the HMMWV's M240, M2, or Mk 19. In other words if buttoning up robs a vehicle of its firepower (which, for a virtually unarmored vehicle, is key to its ability to defend itself), it sounds counterproductive to me. Sure, I don't like to see a HMMWV gunner get WIA/KIA, only to be replaced by one of the only two other guys in the vehicle who then gets hit himself, but it stinks for a vehicle to made more vulnerable by the crew's attempts at self-preservation.

I don't know exactly how the Jackal will work in CM:SF, but I surmise that buttoning up (i.e., not manning the main weapon) would be even more disadvantageous for the Jackal, since it lacks the more all-around protection (though said protection is fairly light) of the HMMWV. That said, the front-mounted GPMG doesn't look to be leave-able, so I reckon the Jackal would have at least that much firepower-type protection to the front quarter and part of the left quarter, even if the 50-cal gunner decides to not man his weapon.