Up-Armored M1009's?

[johnnychimpo]

I was on the way home tonight & came upon a tractor trailer on the interstate with 3 M1009's on it's flatbed. These CUCV's had a armored turret on the fiberglass top & ballistic glass mounted externally on the side windows. The body panels had panels mounted to them about 4" thick.

On the doors "Caution vehicle is top heavy & subject to roll over" was painted in black letters. Tried to get a pic or two but the camera phone sucks in the dark even with a flashlight pointed out the window at the M1009's.

They appeared to have fresh tan paint but had rust holes in the rockers. Anyone see any of these before?

 

[Dabba]

guess there going to iraq

 

[dremu]

Gotta be some kind of test/prototype deal... the '09's, particularly, are not remotely capable of carrying any extra weight... so you'd hafta up the springs and ideally the axles.

Maybe used for OPFOR training? I know at Ft Irwin there are some HMMWV's done up with fiberglass and plywood to look like BTR's and such (i.e. Soviet-block APC's.)

-- A

 

[johnnychimpo]

I thought they would up the axles too, but they were still six lug ten bolts.

 

[Dabba]

what kind of turrent, we talking like a 30 or 50 cal or something bigger?

 

[johnnychimpo]

Not sure, weapons aren't mounted on them during transport. The turret wasn't just a plate of steel mounted on a ring. It looked more like it provided protection for 360 deg. Could have had a cover on it. It was dark when I passed these.

 

[Dabba]

so it had this turrent mounted on top of the cap? I cant see them being used for anything heavier than a 30 or 50. Maybe something even lighter. Hell maybe just somewhere for a solider to stand in the rig and protection for him to use his personal weapon

 

[K5dreamer]

cant say anything certain one way or the other, but if id have to guess......

the M1009 is old, theyre selling at surplus auctions and have been for a while, the 10b axle is not up to the task of carrying heavy equipment, they were originally radio and communication trucks. When you factor in that we have modern replacements that do the job better, and the limitations of the M1009, and the rust holes with fresh paint??? makes alot more sense to me that they are being used in urban warfare training exersizes. Old equipment, which means they dont have to use stuff thats actually needed for war, to train new soldiers in something similar to what they will be using overseas (humvee's). that would be my guess.

 

[Dabba]

true, or there giving them to other nations

 

[Hitches31]

I work at a company (2002)in Detroit Mi that did alot of conversion / prototype work ont the M-1008 and M-1009, They also did work on alot of 2002 1/2, 3/4 and 1 ton trucks, Suburban, Tahoes. They would remove the gas engines and install the 6.2, NA 6.5 and T6.5 engines some they would remove the auto tran and install 6 speed man trans. they build build winch bumper, roll bars, radio equipment, bullet proof glass,armored panels on the inside.The company would get 200 trucks to do the conversion at a time.

 

[johnnychimpo]

any chance you'd have pics?

 

[Slapperbar]

Yes, I'm with Johnny. Any pics?

 

[SShultz]

Well just a little imput from someone with "boots in the sand." I've been here going on 18 months between this tour and my last. I've seen all kinds of "Up Armored" F 250s/350s and a bunch of "Up Armored" Tahoes and Subs. I know we've got alot of the 1008s and CUCV pickups for base runners, but I've never seen any with turrets on em... Give me a week or so and let me see what I can dig up and what pics I can get.

SShultz

 

[johnnychimpo]

That would be cool. I've seen a few of the Fords but these M1009's were unexpected. Not sure what the driver of the Flatbed was thinking when I pulled alongside pointing a flashlight & a camera phone out the window at him.

PAD..............





























700 posts!

 

[Slapperbar]

HMMMMM... it's



























930

 

[johnnychimpo]

give me a break I'm an amatuer.

 

[Slapperbar]

I'm still a No0b.

 

[dyeager535]

I agree, sounds like something used for training, maybe training on the turret and if used for live fire, simply armored to protect the shooter from any splatter or ricochets.

As safety conscious as the military is, very unlikely they'd do all that work to a vehicle that they knew couldn't handle extra weight way back when, for actual missions. Those vehicles aren't even considered tactical anymore, except in a do or die situation, they shouldn't be used in combat. And not "training as you fight" if you ain't fightin in a 1009 lol. But as a simulator, I can see it.

 

[77crewcab]

Possibly made up for a movie?

 

[K5dreamer]

geeze, as far as post count, i was gonna brag about the 7,304 count i have on a different forum.... then i saw dyeager..... 17,036.... you need a hobby