Tag Archives: hummer

Technology

Vehicle I-D: The real Avengers

Video

“I think short-range air defense is coming back really strong. I think it’s going to be one of the biggest factors here in the European region because it’s very mobile.”-Staff Sergeant Joseph White, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery

Video report of anti-aircraft training in Poland, June 2019, C Battery 1st Battalion 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment:

With the return to ‘Cold War’ mentality (now known as Near Peer Threats), many ‘force-on-force’ weapon systems are making a come-back.  The Avenger ShoRAD (Short Range Air Defense) system fires a short-range Stinger surface-to-air missile that can be mounted on top of a HMMWV (pronounced humvee), or carried and fired by a soldier.

Video of 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Avenger ops in Bulgaria, as part of NATO anti-Russia wargames, June 2019:

HMMWV Avenger off-loads from a Canadian C-17.

HMMWV Avenger in Korea (south), October 2018.

GREAT RENEGER: TEXAS ARMOR DEPLOYS TO POLAND, PROOF WORLD WAR 3 IS NEAR

WORLD WAR 3: I-C-T, USAF version of Army’s TOTAL FORCE WARFARE

Idaho, Opinion

Red Cross Hummers. Why?

Brand new Red Cross Hummer seen in the Fred Meyer parking lot in Pocatello, Idaho.

General Motors has been donating Hummers to the American Red Cross since 2004, along with a lot of cash ($100,000 in 2004). GM claims the vehicles help with disaster response. I can see the Hummer H1 as practical for this, but the H2 & H3 are among the most impractical  SUVs out there.

Why not deck out one of GMs big four door 4×4 pickups with all kinds of rescue gear, that would be more practical. Are the H2s & H3s meant for rescuing the upper class in style?

This is just another example of the lack of wisdom in our corporate leadership. Oh, but wait, I bet GM got a huge tax write off for doing this. A tax write off for an expensive vehicle that was seeing declining domestic sales (a little more than 9,000 in 2009 compared to almost 56,000 in 2007). Oh, isn’t General Motors the company that got bailed out by U.S. taxpayers (yes, they did pay it back, at least on paper).

Here’s better news; the Hummers aren’t even made anymore. The Chinese government rejected plans to buy Hummer, and GM officially ceased production this year (apparently the last Hummer H3 left the production plant in May 2010).

So the question now is; is GM going to continue to donate vehicles to the American Red Cross, or was it just a way to write off their unsold Hummers? If they do give the ARC more vehicles I hope they choose a more practical truck.