Heretic said:
Some fella in Colorado made his own out of a bulldozer. It took quite a while for the cops to stop him.
They never stopped him, his heavy contraption fell through the ground into a basement and got stuck after many hours of activity.
They were considering military support and a hellfire anti-tank missile to stop his rampage if I recall.
They also fired multiple .50 BMG rounds at it. The armor was layered and the .50 rounds were not effective.
They also spent many hours cited from 12-17 cutting in with a torch to get inside after he had killed himself.
The traditional response of opening fire with everything up to 50 BMG was ineffective.
Armoredman said:
This one is an F-150 with firing ports and a machine gun turret
They say it is an F-350. I wonder if it is the diesel model which would be more suited for such a role with low end torque.
They essentially turn towing capacity into armor capacity, which properly reinforced should work.
The weak points are probably the air intake/radiator and the tires, although the tires are armored in this picture. They could also armor the radiator which would cause it to overheat sooner but it is probably not used for long periods of time anyways. They will also be top heavy and so must corner slower, but the armored wheel wells over the tires probably acts somewhat like training wheels if they corner a little too fast.
If they used solid rubber tires or filled them full of that self sealing goo or a similar substance that plugs holes combined with the armor covering them, they probably could get over an hour of use even after they were well shot up.
Obviously the intent of such a vehicle during an escape is going to be to destroy those trying to stop it with the mounted machinegun and individuals with small arms dismounting if necessary to help. Along with support of other vehicles in the narco convoy.
The top speed is not going to be high enough to outrun almost any typical law enforcement vehicle, and certainly no chopper. So they have to open fire and disable followers to escape.
Such vehicles are also well suited for offensive criminal use, where top speed or escape is less important, but getting inside the defenses of a target is important.
Such a vehicle would allow attackers to breach roadblocks and security points better even with soldiers or enemy cartel guards firing at them with machineguns.
These armored vehicles also seem to include well reinforced battering rams, and so such vehicles would certainly have the ability to punch through security gates and maybe even walls of many compounds and security buildings. Making a new entrance with less concentrated defense than the normal one.
If considered a disposable tool, as the seized abandoned vehicles clearly show they are, then they would be quite effective in high stakes attacks where the vehicle being disabled and abandoned was anticipated.
