Made from 100% recycled materials, it is projected to lower the carbon footprint of our armed forces significantly, as well as contributing to soldier fitness.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Green Machine.
One of the most interesting things I saw at the LuckyGunner blogger shoot was a prototype of the newest "green" armored fighting vehicle for the U.S. Army: the Personal Infantry Fighting and Logistics Vehicle, or "Piffle-vee", as it is nicknamed.
Made from 100% recycled materials, it is projected to lower the carbon footprint of our armed forces significantly, as well as contributing to soldier fitness.
Made from 100% recycled materials, it is projected to lower the carbon footprint of our armed forces significantly, as well as contributing to soldier fitness.
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29 comments:
It must be a bear to pedal when it's up armoured.
Gerry
Where's the streamers?
The black tactical version is made by Smith & Wesson.
Og,
I didn't realize S&W still pimped police bikes.
Now if they buy a car company, they could be one-stop shopping for the local po-po: everything from handcuffs to patrol carbines from one sales rep!
Seems that the NV had similar tactical vehicles everywhere in 'Nam. Capable of carrying hundreds of pounds of rice ... or disassembled field pieces.
The Swiss fielded bike corps.
US Army has experimented with 'em.
See http://www.stuhrmuseum.org/research/BicycleCorp.htm
Bet yer local PO has a bike patrol.
Silent compared to a car.
Swift compared to marching.
They can fill a certain tactical niche.
Art,
Yes, but that's not funny. ;)
PS: I really, really want one of the Trek cop bikes like our local guys use.
They still make bbq grills too, or at least market them. A friend has the "38 special". If they made one in stainless,I'd buy it. But it'd have to be called a 6 something.
"...it is projected to lower the carbon footprint of our armed forces significantly, as well as contributing to soldier fitness."
Yes, but don't get too excited; that green tech is spendy! At 50K per, we can only afford a few. And of course Pentagon reviews/revamps will take years anyway.
AT
Wow, a Schwinn cruiser in OD green. It's for the tactical hipster in your life. It'll go so well with the skinny 5.11 trousers and home-distressed American Apparel plate carrier.
Feh. Real operators ride Huffler & Koch.
Where do you mount the 50 cal machine gun?
I wonder what it would look like in Morning Wood "naked" camo.
http://www.morningwood4u.com/mwc-tshirts.htm
Or "girly" camo.
http://www.artmoth.com/backgrounds/details/689-girly-camouflage/
I tend to stay away from anything recycled -- recycling burns too many tax subsidy dollars to make sense.
That actually looks like a repro of what the Brits used for their Para-Scouts in WWII... I think the originals were made by BSA.
Back in my Marine Reserve days we used to run Command Post Exercises - moving around units on a map and sending radio messages.
We always made up unit names like "5th Cuban Bicycle Brigade". Didn't realize we were prophetic.
Ahh, WW2 Re-Enacting. Good times, good times....
Art, didn't know about the Swiss. Did know about the NV. The other example that comes to mind is the Japanese Army's extensive use of bicycle troops in the Singapore campaign. Sometimes humble simple solutions can be quite effective. Don't tell that to the procurement people at the Pentagon, though.
Alath
Alath,
Nearly every military has used bicycles for a variety of roles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25th_Infantry_Regiment_%28United_States%29
Wow, that's about exactly the bike I rode in Junior High (but mine had shiny green paint), with the smaller curved-down double-front-bars. Rode really well no-handed so I could carry the goddam f*ing trombone case with both arms - the forks had lot of trail and not much rake, so you could set a lean and go around corners.
Thanks for the memories, NOT! I hated JR High...worst years ever.
"...recycling burns too many tax subsidy dollars to make sense."
Yup...gotta burn a lot of midnight oil (taxpayer subsidies)to save a little for the light of day (progressive PR/media).
(AT)
Looks very much like the "Victory Bike" I had during WW II.
How much did it weigh? I've once seen an example of a military bicycle that weighed something like a hundred pounds..
Dunno. Didn't pick it up because it wasn't mine. It weighed whatever an old 1940s steel-framed Schwinn weighed. Somewhere between a lot and a whole bunch, I guess.
Depending on the size of the post (the larger the more likely) there are skads of Soldiers getting around on bicycles "inside the wire" in Iraq. At least there was when I was at Balad in 2009.
Mine was one of the el-cheapo WalMart type bikes. The price was right (free from a departing Soldier), and I accessorized it with the dorkiest rifle rack ever.
But even the dorkiest rifle rack ever - two utility hooks from an online store, some zip-ties and 550-cord - is worlds better than trying to ride with an M16A2 slung. The A2 was not made to be slung upside-down across the shoulder.
When your home for a year is a former Iraqi airbase, a bicycle makes sense. That said, I would MUCH rather have had the one in your photo - much comfier than the POS I had.
gvi
Nah, that's a mall ninja model. The real one's in digital camo.
Produced in four models, one for each service, plus the blue, white and orange one for the Coasties.
I recall PRC Bicycle Battalions, I theink the NAvy has used them for commo on Carriers, and they're common on ULCCs.
Need a tandem version, with rear-facing tail gunner with a Ma Duece - Recoil like a JATO!
THAT was first class snark. I like livin' in a world where you dispense free ice cream....
The Girl with the Red Hair
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