The RAPTOR Mark III

June 13, 2003 2:39 PM

The RAPTOR Mark III - "The RAPTOR Mark III is the fastest and most versatile security vehicle in the world. It mounts a devastating choice of firepower as well as a comprehensive assortment of non-lethal weapons, all interchangeable and deployed through a retractable top."

You in the Hummer 2! Hold on a second... via William Gibson's blog
posted by GriffX (24 comments total)

Good lord, I wonder if I can do something similar to my Jetta.
posted by xmutex at 2:59 PM on June 13, 2003

I hope it's not a trend.
posted by carter at 3:07 PM on June 13, 2003

how lame. a real human has to pop up with the gun to shoot? give me fire-by-wire please.

though it is soooo mad max.
posted by th3ph17 at 3:14 PM on June 13, 2003

Still not as good as this.
posted by jeremias at 3:16 PM on June 13, 2003

Straight outta Car Wars...
posted by nickmark at 3:17 PM on June 13, 2003

Can I get this for my segway? Damn dogs keep barking at me.
posted by daver at 3:36 PM on June 13, 2003

Damn dogs keep barking at me

Suggestion:

Change your name to Mark. That way the dogs willl be calling your name, they are cheering you on.

If anyone questiuons you, calmly explain that dogs have a hard time talking, but be firm - they are saying "Mark!"

(How is that as affirming?)
posted by rough ashlar at 3:47 PM on June 13, 2003

Ah yes. The new Hummer. I wonder how it does for fuel consumption, in miles per gallon? 6mpg? 3mpg?

Speaking of trends, ""It appears that total [oil] discovery in 2001 was about 8 Gb including deepwater oil, and NGL. Although there remain the eternal uncertainties about the reliability of the data, it appears that the world's oil account has been running a deficit since 1981, as it continues to eat into its inheritance from past discovery...."


[ from the Hubbert Peak website, recently discussed on Metafilter here (scroll down thread for absurd quantities of authoritative corroborating material ]

Then go out and buy your "Rapacious Mark 3's" or whatever they are called. And don't spare on the machine guns and antipersonal flamethrower devices.
posted by troutfishing at 3:57 PM on June 13, 2003

oh, take your petroleum-based hand-wringing somewhere else, trout. you know damn well if we run out of oil we'll just render all that excess third world citizenry and burn them. sheesh. worry worry worry.
posted by quonsar at 4:14 PM on June 13, 2003

"As seen on Monster Garage".

At the end of one particular episode, Our Hero Jesse James" unloads on a car with this thing, making swiss cheese of it in no time. Bullets -through- the block, that sort of thing.

Makes you want to go start a war, just so we can drive around in plush leather, SUV comfort. With miniguns.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 4:56 PM on June 13, 2003

The official figures from GM for the H2 (which is the redesigned Hummer, as opposed to the barely-civilized H1s) are 10 mpg city and 12 mpg highway. (Believe it or not, it isn't even the worst.)

But of course the mpg isn't something of concern to someone assessing *cough* security needs. The military HMMWV is undeniably capable, the lowest-end configuration starts at around $50,000, and that's without creature comforts or any kind of hardware such as a tactical gun or communications gear. The Army's typical configuration runs $100,000 per unit and up. Thus the private security market, as well as many strapped-for-cash governments, are more interested in the military -equipped civilian vehicle conversion contingent, which gives you fairly similar capability at around half the price. And make no mistake -- the private security market is a big one, and isn't about the dangers of a rough SoCal commute, but parts of the world where lawlessness is rampant and perhaps kidnapping is a major concern. (In Colombia, for example, even middle-class businessmen have to worry.)
posted by dhartung at 6:21 PM on June 13, 2003

trout.. when it comes to oil, how many miles you drive is more important than what you drive. Or do you mean.. your free to drive high miles because you own a high MPG car while SUV owners are not free to drive what they want even if its low miles. How many gallons you burn is what is important. Even a 55mpg car is worse than a 12mpg SUV if it's using more total gas by driving more often.

Tragedy of the Commons
posted by stbalbach at 6:36 PM on June 13, 2003

Finally, a car that can "seek out and crush insurgents and terrorists." But what I'm really impressed by is that this thing can go 0-60 in 7.3 seconds.

Seriously though, armored suped up cars like this are nothing new, they're just usually custom built for specific customers instead of being marketed like this.
Well, ok, and maybe this thing is a bit more focused on offensive capabilities than most custom armored vehicles.
posted by Wingy at 7:25 PM on June 13, 2003

quonsar - Oh yeah? And I bet you want to start a landfill for all those charred 3rd World skeletons in MY backyard (!)

If you were REALLY responsible you'd advocate lofting them into space or, at the very LEAST, flinging them across the border into Canada.

St Balbach - You're right. Most Humvees probably get driven lightly, break down often, and then get scrapped (although they sure eat up a lot of resources along the way).

It sounds like you are arguing for a "petroleum consumption quota" which would allow hybrid auto drivers to go 4X the allowed mileage of Humvee drivers.

That's OK with me. After all, it''s a free country (within limits, destruction of the Earth being one).
posted by troutfishing at 8:18 PM on June 13, 2003

Troutfishing, do you know how completely joyless you sound most of the time? Don't play computer games because there's this thing called "life" out there. Don't bother boggling over excesses in the armored car field because dammit, they use OIL! Don't you know we're running out of that?

I think the only part of you that smiles much is your asshole as it tries to wrench itself into an even tighter pucker.

But I'm sure you think all the right thoughts, and act in all the proper ways, don't you?
posted by jammer at 10:58 PM on June 13, 2003

I kid you not: I saw a yellow HumVee the other night. With all the red lights on its tail, it looked like a mini-schoolbus. ;-P
posted by mischief at 11:45 PM on June 13, 2003

I agree with th3ph17, it does seem a weakness that the gun operator is exposed. Watch Blackhawk Down and you see the same problem with Humvees. Surely if you are going to spend all that money, you would expect all your personnel to enjoy all-round armour plated comfort.
posted by Joeforking at 2:06 AM on June 14, 2003

I'm surprised they don't have a lowered version with 21" rims for the gangsta rap market. Remember, Suge Knight could be hiding anywhere!
posted by arto at 2:32 AM on June 14, 2003

and no ones mentioned the a-team ?

reading further : the gatling gun fires at a rate of 10000 rpm and is configured so as to discharge projectiles at a target in such a way as to leave the target completely unharmed although shaken .
This mobile armoured unit also has the ability to crash through large piles of cardboard boxes and is available with a red go faster stripe
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:26 AM on June 14, 2003

Anybody here ever fire a minigun in the service?

I always wondered whether something like that has any perceptible recoil if the rounds are leaving the barrels so close together, plus the whole thing's pretty heavy. Are they hard to aim precisely?
posted by alumshubby at 6:52 AM on June 14, 2003

jammer - what asshole? I did away with that thing long ago. It's illogical and messy.
posted by troutfishing at 7:51 AM on June 14, 2003

Surely if you are going to spend all that money, you would expect all your personnel to enjoy all-round armour plated comfort.

Nah, who cares about the grunts? You can hire dusky-skinned Mexicans undocumented workers for pennies on the dollar.

Anybody here ever fire a minigun in the service?

No, but I have seen them shot at Knob Creek (which could be a FPP in itself). Just like any other firearm, you put bullets out one direction you get recoil in the opposite direction (no matter how close together the bullets are, you get the same amount of recoil for each bullet). A three-ton SUV can absorb a lot of recoil though, and the pintle mount they have it mounted on ensures that it gets pretty much all of it. The vehicle will rock perceptibly, but not too much to make you miss your target.

Are they hard to aim precisely?

This is not a weapon you aim, except in the loosest sense. You point it at an area, hose that area down, and targets in that area fall apart.
posted by moonbiter at 9:47 AM on June 14, 2003

er, Mexicans undocumented workers
posted by moonbiter at 9:50 AM on June 14, 2003

Looks like the same vehicle Jesse James, Monster Garage, used when shooting up a RX7 that failed his challenge for Discovery Channel. It looked better in action during the night shots.
posted by thomcatspike at 12:04 PM on June 17, 2003