After running their jeeps ragged in Vietnam, the US Army needed a new workhorse. It called for an armoured vehicle that could carry a variety of weapons, including the deadly TOW antitank missile.
Add-on armor kits made the Humvee safer, but they also added weight and complexity that increased mechanical problems. Now the military is replacing them with better-performing JLTVs from Wisconsin firm Oshkosh. Contact Street Legal Exports now!
The Humvee, which stands for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, is a military truck that is used by the United States and numerous other countries and organizations. It largely supplanted the original jeep, the Vietnam War-era M151 Jeep and M561 Gama Goats, and other light utility vehicles. The military Humvee is also sold in civilian adaptations under the Hummer brand, such as the H3 model, which GM produced from 2005 until 2010.
The Army’s decision to develop the Humvee began in the 1970s, when it realized that it needed better-performing vehicles to carry out a wider range of tasks. The military tasked AM General with designing a new “jack-of-all-trades” light tactical vehicle that could take the place of multiple other vehicles, including trucks and utility cars.
When the Humvee debuted in 1985, it was considered a revolutionary military vehicle. It looked like a jeep on steroids, with more power and capabilities. Soldiers called them a “muscle car” and a “Jeep on steroids.” They were used as troop carriers, command centers and ambulances. They were also able to support machine gun turrets, low-altitude air defense systems and medical units.
The military’s early successes with the Humvee fueled enthusiasm for the vehicle, and it spawned a civilian version that was built by General Motors, which called its vehicle the Hummer. The attention-grabbing road warrior tipped the scales at some 8,000 pounds and got less than 10 miles per gallon, but it was still popular with celebrities, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who owned several of them.
But with the advent of asymmetric warfare in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq, the Humvee began to show its age. The aluminum body might as well have been tissue paper in the face of small arms fire and roadside improvised explosive devices. And although the army began retrofitting the vehicles with armor and bulletproof windows, it was a stopgap solution that increased weight and made the trucks clumsy and prone to rollovers.
By 2018, the military started replacing its Humvees with a lighter, more agile and safer vehicle called the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle or JLTV. The light truck has better armor, a mine-resistant hull and more suspension travel than a Humvee. It also has a 400-horsepower turbo diesel engine that leaves the best Humvee engines in the dust. As of 2021, the JLTV has replaced 10,000 Humvees in the Army and Marine Corps.
The Humvee’s mission
The military’s HMMWV, commonly known as Humvee, was designed for an incredibly diverse set of missions. It’s a four-wheel drive vehicle capable of transporting troops, providing surveillance and reconnaissance, and acting as an assault vehicle — all with the ability to operate in extreme conditions. It can traverse desert terrain at speeds exceeding 100 mph and carry more weight than any jeep on the market. The Humvee can be outfitted with a range of weapons and is more than capable of taking on an enemy in combat, as it’s fitted with a pop-up gun turret, ballistic-resistant armor, and even carries the deadly TOW antitank missile.
The Humvee first entered service in the 1980s, quickly becoming a staple of the US military. It was heavily used during the Gulf War of 1991 and the more recent Iraq War, and was instrumental in both operations’ success. The vehicle’s original unarmored design was soon seen to be insufficient, however, and the Army hastily up-armored select models and introduced the MRAP.
In 2015, the Army began to replace the Humvee in frontline service with Oshkosh’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), which is expected to deliver a significant technology leap compared to the Jeep-like Ford M151 MUTT that preceded it. But despite the JLTV’s increased capabilities, the Humvee’s critical mission roles are not going away anytime soon.
Civilians are allowed to own Humvees, and they’re often sold in weekly GovPlanet military surplus auctions. However, buyers should be aware that Humvees are not road-ready until they’ve met each state’s inspection and titling requirements.
Aside from being a staple of the US military, Humvees have also been featured in several popular video games. For example, the PMC Raven Sword deployed a fleet of them in Act 3 of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots to form roadblocks and prevent the Paradise Lost Army from leaving Millennium Park. Another famous appearance was in the 2013 game, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, where a yellow-colored Humvee is operated by PMC Praying Mantis to pursue the terrorists. It later appears in the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker campaign, where a team of armed Humvees are tasked with patrolling an Eastern European town and attempting to capture PMC leader Liquid Ocelot.
The Humvee’s problems
The Humvee stumbled out of the gate during the Panama invasion, which was the HMMWV’s first taste of combat. It subsequently served in Afghanistan, where it suffered from its lack of armor against buried explosives and a heavy-handed approach to warfare that drew fire from insurgents.
The military’s response was to make the Humvee more durable. It added heavier and more powerful engines and improved the vehicle’s armament and sensors, but the sturdier trucks didn’t stop the enemy from using IEDs to ambush advancing troops. These devices were turning Humvees into scrap metal, and the Pentagon began to deploy MRAPs, a more heavily armoured version of the HMMWV.
Despite their ruggedness, Humvees are still vulnerable to mechanical problems and require regular maintenance. Oil changes are a major expense, as the truck’s engine is larger and uses more oil than typical cars. Tire replacements are also expensive, and the vehicles aren’t known for their fuel efficiency — they get about 8 to 12 miles per gallon if driven regularly, which can add up to $3,000 annually in fuel costs alone.
In addition to maintenance, owning a Humvee requires a significant amount of storage space. These trucks are bigger than most cars, and they may not fit in standard garages. If you don’t have room to keep your Humvee, you’ll need to find a place to store it, which can cost $100 to $300 per month depending on the location and size of the space.
Despite the fact that the Humvee’s days as a military vehicle are numbered, savvy preppers should consider buying one as an insurance policy in case things go south. The JLTV, a lighter and more nimble vehicle built by Oshkosh, will replace the Humvee in combat, but the Army plans to keep hundreds of thousands of these vehicles in reserve as an insurance policy against the next big fight. Just be prepared for a lot of maintenance and unforeseen expenses.
The Humvee’s future
The Humvee’s odyssey began in 1984, when the Army’s Tank-Automotive Command (TACOM) realized that the new weapons and communications systems it was equipping its soldiers with were pushing the jeep-based vehicles to their limits. The company that built the Army’s jeeps, AM General, responded with a more rugged truck called the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, which was designed to carry more equipment while still traversing difficult terrain.
The HMMWV was a smash hit. It looked like a badass, and it proved itself over the decades that followed, steamrolling enemy defenses across sun-baked deserts, rugged mountain passes and even the paved streets of major cities. It was a vehicle that was feared by the enemy, respected by the American public and adored by GIs.
But as the threats evolved in subsequent conflicts, the HMMWV was forced to change with them. During the Gulf War, its unarmored design was left vulnerable to roadside improvised explosive devices, prompting the military to quickly up-armor select models. During the Iraq War, the threat of improvised explosive devices again made it clear that the Humvee needed to adapt.
Despite its ill-starred career with the service, it’s possible that Humvees will continue to see action into the future. The upcoming Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) will eventually replace the bulk of the services’ existing fleets, but the JLTV is optimized for the kind of wars that we’re currently fighting in the Middle East and it may not be an ideal fit for the kinds of missions the military envisions for its future.
For now, AM General is focusing on improving the old model’s reliability and safety, as well as developing a hybrid-electric version that will run on conventional gasoline while also tapping commercial-off-the-shelf battery and electric motor technology to reduce maintenance costs and emissions. Ideally, the HUMVEE Charge will prove that military land vehicles can go green while remaining tough enough for combat.
For now, though, the Humvee remains America’s war wagon of choice. And as commanders figure out how best to mount their fleets of vehicles — from the lightweight JLTVs and Humvees to 25-ton Strykers, 40-ton Bradleys and 70-ton M1 Abrams tanks — it’s important that they have a versatile truck in the toolkit that can do everything the modern battlefield can throw at them.