I got some emails about this, so I figured this deserved it's own thread. The Objective-Gunner Protection Kit turret is a place near and dear to my heart. To date it has been mounted on up armored HMMWV's, every Cat 1 and 2 MRAP, and will probably end up on the JLTV if that program lives.

This thread is in the same spirit as the M-ATV thread. Ask any and all O-GPK related questions in here. Since it is mounted on numerous vehicles it didn't seem right to relegate it to one truck's thread. There will be many, many pictures posted in this thread. Unless otherwise noted they were taken by myself or friends of mine in Afghanistan from 2010-2012. If you want more details on a particular picture, ask, I remember the context of almost all of my pictures, and for those of my friends I can ask.

I was originally saving this for a magazine article, but screw it, I like you guys so I'll put it out there for free.


There are numerous manufacturers out there who have made this and every time it seems like an afterthought. I will save my thoughts on their many shortcomings for another time, but all leave a lot to be desired. The spirit of this thread is to encourage discussion and foster knowledge, please take it as such.

In terms of modeling, it's diversely colorful and holds a huge variety in terms of modifications that have been seen in the field. I am going to focus my posts on the modifications in this order:

Eagle Mounts (secondary weapons mounts)
Stowage boxes/modifcations
Weapons systems/ammo stowage
Extra Armor aka: Pope Glass, Slat Armor, etc...

The Eagle Mount

The Eagle Mount is an extra pintle mounted to the turret to provide a means of mounting a secondary belt fed weapon, typically an M240, or M249 SAW in addition to the primary crew served weapon, typically being an M2HB/M2A1, or Mk-19 Automatic Grenade Machine Gun.

Why, the best reason I can give is by illustrating this example. We were ambushed one day in Afghanistan at close range with a complex ambush being initiated by a very large IED on our #2 truck and small arms and RPG's on our final #4 truck. The 2 truck was destroyed and the 4 truck was disabled by an RPG to the engine. The gunner immediately responded with his Mk-19 while anti personnel RPG's were being fired at him specifically. Reloading was a luxury he didn't really have time for, and 40mm ammo is heavy and unwieldy to reload in that turret in a hurry. He fired his whole can of 40mm HEDP first, then immediately transitioned to his eagle mounted M240B. When all was said and done he had fired 600 rounds of 7.62 and 102 rounds of 40mm HEDP. That immediate action and heavy volume of fire probably saved their lives.

The other reason, is quite frankly, flexibility. 40mm grenades are not always the right tool for the job and 7.62 or linked 5.56 is. Tools in the tool box.

Eagle mounts I saw were fabricated from whatever was available at first. I will now post pictures of a large variety of Eagle Mounts on many different vehicles. I will label them by number so if you have a question about a specific mount it can be referenced.

1.






2.










3.





4.

Thank you so much Steve. This will prove to be mega useful!

I dont suppose you have any measurements of the OGPK. There are size differences between the Bronco, Legends and Voyagers turrets and i'm rather uncertain as to who is correct.

I do not. I regret that I took any measurements and certainly not enough pictures when I was down range. The other thing to note from these pictures, none have that rediculous armored hood mounted either that Panda and Kinetic have molded into their turret. I will address that later however when I do sniper/sun shades.

No worries Steve. I guess from pics of it mounted on the M1151 and M1114 it should be easy enough to see who's turret is correct.

I agree its also a pain that Panda and Kinetic moulded the OGPK roof protection on.

Indeed, this was a solution for avery real Iraq problem (RKG-3)that made it's way to Afghanistan, much like the Rhino.

Next we'll address bustle racks. It's bloody difficult to reload quickly from within an armored vehicle when half of your body is in and the other half out. Some enterprising person decided what's old is new again and we were graced with the bustle rack. My first bustle rack was locally fabircated by Afghans because neither us, nor the Polish Army had any welding equipment. Same as our Eagle mounts, and they showed it.

Locally Fabbed Racks











Also note the linked 5.56 SAW ammo can bolted to the side of the turret. This gave Joe a place to store cleaning materials, tools, and extra LSA (lube) for the Mk-19. Simple operation, remove a bolt from the window, drill hole in side of ammo can, replace bolt through ammo can. Done.




Later on in the tour, this idea apparently caught on and local depots began manufacturing these en masse. Some units had the depots put a personal touch on it. As seen below. I've since seen this same style on Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine MRAPs. This seems to be the standard now. It's also a far far better solution than our locally fabbed ones and we replaced them as the opportunity presented itself.







The personal touch...


I also saw some Kentucky national guard RG's with similar KY ADT (Agricultural Development Team) cut outs.

These had plywood covers on a hinge. Not sure the point of the cover, seems counter productive to me, but then they weren't my trucks.

Thanks for this Thread. The Information about the Eagle Mount is what I need for my Legend MaxxPro Built.

Are the Gunners using Belts?

Define belt, do you mean what we sat on, or like a seat belt?

Either way the answer is yes, gunners wear (or are supposed to wear and are stupid if they don't)a 5 point safety harness that is hooked into the floor via a seat belt just like you have in your car.
there is also a new padded seat that hangs from the turret with quick release buckles on both sides. Gimme some time and I'll dig up some pictures.

Yes, I mean seat belts or something like this. Pictures will be fine.

Best picture I can find right now. Our guys all wore them under our armor, it was more comfortable that way. It really accentuates your... well, yeah.



This is a MaxxPro. Look below the gunners platform and you'll see a little black box with a seat belt. That has a seat belt inside it and the female buckle, the harness has the male buck with a quick release so you can get out of it quick. without fumbling to push down that orange button under stress.



I think I have some better pictures at home on my other hard drive. I'll check later. Here is one I found on google.

Today's update, the M1165 TOW turret. This can be fitted to any vehicle that can mount the GPK or O-GPK turret, to include the M1167 HMMWV, and all turret capable MRAPs.

http://www.amgeneral.com/files/specs-sheets-m1167-domestic-04-10.pdf

http://www.hmmwvinscale.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=12484764

This video shows the importance of checking your back blast area...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkiEoDyFwUA&feature=related

This is the TOW turret mounted on an RG-31Mk5E

Might as well throw in the TOW ITAS.

Found my pictures.



Budget cuts

Next up is "Pope Glass". This came about the first time the Vermont Guard went to war, then it was Ramadi and we were the 172nd Armor.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11923819/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/pope-glass-credited-saving-gi-lives/#.Tz9SOPEgdm0

This time we were the 172nd CAV (RSTA) in Afghanistan, and it still worked.

It's simple really, HMMWV ballistic windshields fit damn near perfect to the sides of turrets. You get your protection without sacrificing protection. Of course you needed the extra windshields to do it so every one didn't have them, but they were fairly common. Especially with RCP's.

Then came the bar armor. These seemed to be pillaged from RG-31 kits as RG's seemed to get the bar armor first. It was welded to the turrets and that was that.


I always found this RCP truck interesting, it's an RG-31Mk5E. They removed the O-GPK gun shield and replaced it with a bracket with two HMMWV windshield mounted vertically on either side of the gun slat. You can just see it past the 240 in this picture.



Pope glass on a different RCP RG. This one also has a home made roof with sky light.





M-ATV with pope glass. Also not the use of the older GPK chicken plate instead of the newer O-GPK shield, no idea why they did that.






The close ups of Pope Glass mounted to a HMMWV.







A couple of turrets that got the full treatment. They are not mounted on trucks anymore, no idea why as I was just passing through this FOB, but these had everything. Also note the Gaylord packing crate bottom being used as a sun shield/roof.





Ballistic glass works... Note the wire framed sniper net frame.



I'll address sun shades/sniper nets at a later time.

Just stumbled upon this thread packed full of information however the photos have expired just wondering if there is anyway to get them back?

I to just happened upon this subject.......
where are the pic's ?