03 Nov 2009
Marines from Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force 26 direct vehicles from a Landing Craft Air Cushioned onto USS New York off the coast of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 30, 2009. Marines from several units merged to form SPMAGTF-26 for the ship's commissioning in New York City, Nov. 7. Lance Cpl. Tommy Bellegarde
That “jeep” beyond the LAV-25 is a Growler, the lightweight vehicle developed to be carried by V-22 Ospreys. The Growler has suffered from typical developmental issues and the cost has grown a typical 100% since the first contract was awarded.
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Effing ridiculous. The Corps paid to reinvent the jeep. In using off-the-shelf parts, its unit price is down to a bargain basement $200k – $1 million.
I like how the contractor had to go the extra mile installing a “cooling system” (like taking the doors off in the pics?) and the lift/lower suspension. Yeah that suspension musta really been a fortune…I guess with every whip in L.A. able to do the very same thing the parts were just hard to come by.
Coulda gone to a swap meet, bought a whole fleet of Haflingers and Pinzgauers, with extra parts and the mechanics to maintain them, for a tiny tiny tiny fraction of a handful of Growlers.
The Army can spend $$ like that, but the USMC? Wtf?
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:59 pm
the lightweight vehicle developed to be carried by V-22 Ospreys.
That sounds like a problem from the get-go.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:45 am
The Growler NOT suffer from “from typical developmental issues”,
it’s one of the biggest blunders in the history of the ‘Corps!
Watch this Animated GIF slide-show — it will show you just how screwed-up the Growler is;
http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs32/f/2008/202/8/c/The_Growler_Boondoggle_by_BlacktailFA.gif