Well its not a new humvee, but a new turret shield. I don't know for sure, but I'm betting this is a new standard. It is called a Picatinny Objective Gunner Protection Kit. Sorry for the large image.



Jeff

Nice Photo Jeff. Thanks for sharing.

Looks like they put a lot of thought into that one. 360 degree protection, plenty of windows with what I assume is bulletproof glass, an M4 in the turret in case you dont have time to reload the .50 in the heat of a fire fight, and even rear view mirrors so you can see if the guy with the RPG is still behind you! Looks like it should do well (I hope). The only thing I would have liked to have seen is that the armor be a bit taller. The reason being is a sniper looking down from a second story window or higher would have a clean shot at the gunner. Maybe even some sort of roof on the turret would be good. Good find Jeff!

Gary

A turret roof would prevent an easy entry and exit for the gunner from the hatch.

I'm kind of surprised none of these wall turrets have a simple rollbar to protect the gunner in case the Humvee flips over. The rollbar may crush since it's not attached to anything solid, but it sure beats having the gunner's head as the highest thing on a Humvee when it flips over.

Well, I'd love to add that this is new protection designed for our troops through trial & effort, but the plain & simple fact is that a grunt in the Cav got tired of seeing his buddies brains spraying all over the hood & windscreen of his convoys vehicles, so he scrounged the [auto-censored]pile in DRMV & came up with a 360Degree 2" armored glass turret that he could bolt to the ring of a standard (& totally ineffective1/4"aluminum slab turret ) so that he & his boys had a pisspot chance of surviving urban warfare for which they had not been trained or equipped. Now it's called the "Picatinny OGPK", cause some smartass contract engineer found a way to alter the basic design At Picatinny [auto-censored]nal & now charge the taxpayers over 60,000 a piece for these. Makes you feel all warm inside eh? Oh, & these top-heavy monstrosities were directly repsonsible for the drowning loss of 8 marines in Fallujah 3 weeks ago when the damn things swerved to avoid a hasty roadblock & wound up on an undermined canal bank...
Just let the damn grunts figger out what works & quit [auto-censored]in' the system for more kickbacks, OK, degree boys?!?!?!?!?!@

Anyway Jeff, Thanks for the photos. Sure to come in handy at some point.

I'd love to know what about that is worth 60G's? Why couldn't that be fab'd up by the unit's mech's. welder's?

Why would the word [auto-censored]nal be censored?

it would seem that there is a programming fault in the auto-censoring function
used by this here website. The term "arsenal" (putting it inside quotes seems
to fool the auto-censor imbecil ;-) ) has been used
for centuries to describe the facility, owned and controlled by the armed forces,
where weapons intended for those armed forces are produced and/or stored.
Especially on a website like this the use of the word [auto-censored]nal must be considered
fully legitimate.

Regarding the comment on how weapons and equipment are designed I can only
add that sometimes a product is used in circumstances it wasn't intended for.
To get something suitable for urban warfare where a sniper or RPG-shooter can
hide in every window one should look at what is "invented" in Israel.
Profiting from the experiences made by others should also be considered,
the "not invented here" syndrome has cost many lives throughout history.
/ Robin

Logansdad, Just a question. Did you serve any time in a M1114 in Iraq during any OIF? I served as my CO's gunner and as a vehicle CO during OIF III in Bayji Iraq. I was just wondering where you were getting some of your info.

And it'd also prevent a neatly placed grenade to land in with the gunner.

The thrower would have to get well within range of the gunner, usually about 35 meters max. Lead from an M16 or .50 cal vs. the throwing arm of a bad guy usually doens't pan out well for the throwing individual. The weapon in the turret appears to be an M-16A4 with the flat rail top, and full stock not an M-4. As I look at the vehicle, I can't help but think as Logansdad pointed out, it looks very top heavy. I had enough trouble keeping my regular 998 with our Hill-billy armor on all four tires running the gauntlet in Fallujah and Ramadi early in the war. We had ballistic blankets for protection from small arms, whatever safety that provided we don't know. I guess we were extremely fortunate early on as we didn't get hit all that hard. Sand bags and plywood was the order of the day. I imagine we wouldn't even be allowed to move towards the gate now-a-days. When these "upgraded" beasts get issued to our folks in harms way, I just hope that they do what they are intended to do. The bad guys are always going to be finding out new ways to hurt us, just as we find new ways to stop or deter them. Its an ugly circle. Thanks for sharing the pic. "Q"

Lets all calm down.

A rollbar would make sense, but I wonder if there are height clearance issues. Also, if Picatinny is making it, there has been significant research put into it from front line Soldiers. This is also evidence by a number of the features. One thing I like that I just noticed is the stock rear view mirror on the turret, something very innovative. Gary, I imagine the rifle rack is also for accountability of weapons. It isn't kosher to have a loose - loaded - weapons floaing around the interior. But I'm sure your reason is the main reason, escalation of force and all. Plus it isn't always a good idea, if you are equipped with a Mk-19 to use it as a warning shot .

Jeff

Tim,
Who did you gun for??? LTC L or one of the Co Cdrs in TF 1-103???

Tankrider, I was Capt Moreau's gunner in B Co. 1/103 AR. LTC L. was the BC for TF Dragoon. I then was given command of one of 3rd Plt's 1114's in the same Co.

To the best of my knowledge, the gunner neither exits or enters the vehicle through the roof. However, in the even the humvee flips on its side, the roof could be made to be completely detachable. Its all about how much engineering and imagination you put into it. In the event of a roll over, I would assume with or without a roof on the turret, there is a very good chance the gunner would be killed, at which point, this will not serve as an exit either.

Someone mentioned a roof would protect from having a grenade tossed inside. Well, if you put this thing in an urban environment, and the Humvee gets stuck by a road block, or traffic or any obstruction in the road where it either slows down or stops, and yeah, that turret will make a nice funnel for a grenade. I still say add a roof.

PS - sorry about the M4 comment. I looked quick and thought it had the shorter barrel and a full stock. Kind of like Knights SR16.

Look everybody, the Humvee was NEVER intended to perform its current role. What I used, and what the current Soldiers, Marines, and Airmen are still using is the best of what can be done to take this vehicle and force it to perform duties it was never intended to. I would loved to have had this turret on my truck, but the turret we had was just that , what we had to work with at that time. My buddy had a chunk of an IED stuck in his turret instead of in him. So they worked in some situations. The ideal position for a gunner is to be at nametape defilade until he has to use his weapon system. I entered & exited my gun turret thru the turret itself every time I got in or out. Anyone who has tried to get into that turret thru the crew compt with all of your gear on will do it only once. Until better vehicles are procured specifically to deal with the IED threat, you have to work with what you have. No one vehicle will do it all, but I can tell you that what we tried or experienced we were able to get that info back to the States and in the hands of the people who could R & D our changes and you usually saw it fielded shortly thereafter. I'm stepping down from my soapbox now, Thx.

Can a resin or PE conversion set be far behind?

Great picture, good to see some proper armor being developed for the HUVMEE gunner.

Is it safe to look for something similar to replace this shield?


Patrick

Patrick that shield looks like the TAGS shield from an Abrams loader's M240 station or at least a development of them. It really looks like the Army is switching from an all-metal shield to metal supplimented by ballistic glass.

Jeff