> The 80mph 'Mad Max' monster targeting the Taliban
Last updated at 22:22pm on 23rd June 2007 It looks more like a vehicle from one of Mel Gibson's Mad Max movies.But this four-ton monster truck is the British Army's new weapon designed to take on insurgents on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan.
British-made, the Supacat Weapons Mounted Installation Kit boasts awesome firepower which will be unleashed early next year. British and other Nato troops are being targeted by roadside bombs and daily firefights.
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Awesome: The Supacat is described by one officer as 'a serious bit of kit'
Infantry soldiers have complained existing Land Rovers provide insufficient protection from the bombers.
Now, the Ministry of Defence is buying 130 of the light-armoured beasts – which can reach a maximum 80mph – and will take delivery of the first early next year.
They will use a grenade machine gun which fires at up to 340 rounds per minute, usually in bursts of three to five rounds, at targets up to a mile away.
The Supacats will also employ a 7.62mm-calibre General Purpose Machine Gun, which fires 750 rounds per minute with a range of nearly a mile.
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The vehicles, made at Honiton in Devon, will also have a mounted 0.5in-calibre heavy machine gun, which fires huge rounds more than a mile at a rate of 485 to 635 a minute. They are powered by a 5.9-litre turbo-diesel engine and will carry three or four crew.
One senior Army officer described the new super-truck as a "serious bit of kit", adding it would be a "huge boost to our long-range patrolling capability".
Senior defence sources say the Supacats will particularly come into their own against the Taliban in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, which has no roads.
Defence Minister Lord Drayson said last night: "These vehicles are well armed, swift and agile and will boost our capability with some serious firepower.
"The MoD and the Treasury have worked hard to get them to our troops in quick time, and they start going out to theatre early next year."
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It looks like there is not much protection for the crew. I would have thought that the crews safety and security would be the first on the list, but I suppose cheaper costs have won the day.
- John, Tendring, England
Light armoured beast? Where is the angled hull and high ground clearance to divert the blast from mines? The major threat is surely from mines and IEDs buried in the road, which can disable a tank and which have killed and injured dozens of our troops. Have the MOD got it wrong again?
- Percy, London
A serious bit of kit indeed - however, why has it taken so long to deploy and still will not be with our front-line forces until "early next year"!
Given the size of it, the weight of it, and the potential speed of it, no doubt some pen-pusher will decide that it does not conform to E.U. regulations on carbon footprint.
- Drew, Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway.
