WASHINGTON – The Army is swapping an icon – the 40-year-old Humvee – for a lighter, faster, cheaper truck designed for future battlefields.
The Infantry Squad Vehicle, more dune buggy than armored truck, is one of the most visible signs of the Army’s transition from Cold War-era equipment that has defined it for generations. The grinding insurgencies that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union demanded more and more armor to protect troops from roadside bombs. In their place: a range of vehicles and drones that can be fielded quickly, and, in many cases, with commercial, off-the-shelf technology.
"The Humvee is the quintessential G.I. Joe vehicle," said Alex Miller, the chief technical adviser to Army leadership for transforming its equipment. "It is the quintessential Army vehicle we've had in the inventory since 1985. So, 40 years of Humvee. It was good for what it was built for, which was high mobility at the time. It is not good for the fight we think we're going to be in."
That fight, to Pentagon officials like Miller, likely involves China and will require speed and agility to survive. Battles will also almost certainly resemble the combat sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Lethal drones have turned slow-moving trucks and even tanks into death traps.
