The United States Army recently tested out the Hawkeye 105 mm Howitzer mobile artillery system, developed by the Mandus Group, and man — it looks sweet.
How do I know it looks sweet? Well, a video showing some of that testing in slow motion made its way to Twitter and, well — it’s really, really nice.
Besides it being a big old boom stick with a great capability to reach out and touch, this weapons system is special because of the way it can make its way around the battlefield.
This baby was built to ride on a Humvee.
The “Mandus Group is proud to announce it has teamed with AM General to create the lightest weight, most maneuverable self-propelled howitzer in the world today,” the Mandus Group reported in a statement.
“AM General recognized that the unique “hybrid soft recoil” technology incorporated into the Hawkeye howitzer was a game changing development for artillery in general, especially for self-propelled artillery. Up to now, self-propelled artillery has been mounted on heavy vehicles in order to absorb the extreme shock of recoil from the howitzer.
“These heavy self-propelled howitzers are limited in their ability to be transported to the battlefield and also in their ability to maneuver on the battlefield due to their heavy weight… There simply is no other self-propelled howitzer in the world today that offers the strategic and tactical flexibility that the Hawkeye/HMMWV brings to the fight.”
It’s true — one of the greatest problems facing militaries since the days of antiquity has been getting on and off the battlefield in a timely order and deploying them where they will be the most effective.
Now, American artillery has long been on the cutting edge of this particular line of technology, if they haven’t been the edge.
If use of this weapons system became widespread, I’d imagine we’d be in solid command of that edge for a while.
If you want the nitty-gritty specs, you can take a look here. For those who just want to see something go “Boom!”, just look below.
Alpha "Gators", 1-319th AFAR (@82ndABNDiv artillery) testing the "Hawkeye", 105mm mounted in a Humvee pic.twitter.com/PTukjaknxO
— Abraxas Spa (@AbraxasSpa) August 5, 2018
As Task&Purpose’s Brad Howard noted: “Utilizing an inventive hydraulic system to reduce recoil, the Hawkeye was designed to lighten a tried-and-true artillery solution enough to allow such a large cannon on a small platform.
“It can fire up to eight rounds per minute via remote for three minutes or three rounds per minute sustained, and the mobility of the Humvee allows a small crew of between two and four to rapidly deploy the suspension system, fire, and get out of dodge within 60 seconds — or before counter-battery fire can hit back.”
That’s extra nice if you have to be the person worried about counter-battery fire, not that the United States has had to be real worried about the superiority of their artillery for the past few decades.
This is, however, a fantastic way to take tech we’re already using — the ultra-wildly utilized Humvee — and integrate it with improvements to American war-fighting capability to keep it relevant for years to come.
What do you think about this new equipment? Please share this article on Facebook and Twitter and let us know! Keep and eye out for our next installment on military tech!
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