this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2025
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doors? a roof? nah, we don't need that

They're apparently planning to buy 2.5k of these too! Light skeletonized utility trucks like this have been around for a while, but as a very specific niche for special forces, not general issue

Mercedes G-Class Caracal

Except now all the Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (which the US apparently has a ton of, you'd think the wealthiest country in the world would have, like, a mostly fully mechanized infantry force and not nearly half of its units without even organic APCs, but I guess not) are going to be converted to Mobile Brigade Combat Teams, mounted on these things.


Something I found interesting is that the Soviets actually trialed a similar concept of airborne troops mounted in stripped-down utility trucks all the way back in the '80s, with similar motivation - lighter-equipped units are easier to redeploy via air, as it takes less plane trips (and opens up the usage of more plentiful smaller planes) to get all their gear in place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYSb5VsQxNY

Except they pretty quickly came to the conclusion that this concept just doesn't work out that well. And even if they'd gone forward with it, there would have likely been just a handful of units like this, with the bulk of Soviet infantry remaining properly mechanized (in BTRs/BMPs for regular infantry, and BMDs for airborne).

Oh well, I guess the Americans have to see for themselves.

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[–] LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins@hexbear.net 13 points 3 weeks ago

the answer is going to be that video where that guy took a mop and tied a bunch of shit to it and used it to smack drones down at 10ft except the military won't issue the mops and will forget to have people watch the video