Description
The US Army’s Humvee series of trucks were designed in the late 1970s by the AM General Corporation to replace a diversity of rapidly obsolescing tactical vehicles, to include the M-151 series jeeps, M-880 series 5/4 ton Dodge Powerwagons, and the M-561 Gamma Goat. Guided by the precepts specified in a newly up-dated FM 100-5 (the Army’s AirLand Battle Tactics and Doctrine bible), with the increased emphasis on fire and maneuver, the engineers at AM General began the design with a clean slate.
The Army demanded a vehicle which was safer to operate than the current jeep, a better performer than its antiquated Dodge 5/4 ton pick-ups, and more reliable than the cantankerous Gamma Goat. A diesel powerplant was specified from the outset to remove MoGas, with its inherent penchant for unintended flammability, from the battlefield once and for all.