Special Operations Patrol Vehicles by Leigh Neville

Special Operations Patrol Vehicles by Leigh Neville

Author:Leigh Neville
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Special Operations Patrol Vehicles
ISBN: 9781849088305
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Published: 2011-08-10T16:00:00+00:00


An aide-memoire for the “nine-liner” – the format used to call in medical evacuation for wounded service members – taped against the communications stand for instant use inside an Army GMV-S. (Courtesy Rob Skipper)

One company of each Ranger battalion is equipped with the RSOV, with the vehicle being deployed on the basis of four vehicles per platoon, split into a pair of two vehicle squads with one vehicle mounting the M2 and the other the Mk 19. The RSOV also carries AT-4 light anti-tank rockets, Javelin ATGM, and the Ranger-specific Carl Gustav M3 84mm recoilless rifle, giving the mounted Rangers an anti-armor capability.

The RSOV admirably fulfilled the regiment’s need for an armed tactical transport platform to support its traditional site seizure and exploitation missions with heavy weapon platforms. Yet the vehicle lacked the capability for long-range desert operations as performed by Delta and 22 SAS in Iraq’s western desert during both Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. For these, the Rangers selected the GMV in the form of a variant known as the GMV-R (R for Ranger), which was also specifically developed for the Ranger Regiment but physically appears similar to the GMV-S Special Forces version.

In their 2005 deployment to Afghanistan in support of the Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF), the 75th Rangers made a request for the loan of some 14 M1126 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles (ICVs), an M1133 Medical Evacuation Vehicle, and an M1130 Command Vehicle. Combined with the Rangers’ use of Delta’s Pandur Armored Ground Mobility System (AGMS) and joint operations in Iraq with the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), the “temporary” loan (there is currently no fixed date for return of the vehicles) gives the Rangers a protected transportation capability for road movement or indeed direct-action operations against Taliban compounds. It is understood that the Rangers have extensively modified the vehicles to suit their unique mission requirements (almost certainly including the latest generation of anti-IED electronic countermeasures suites), but exact details of such modifications are rightly classified.



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