Comments on: The RAPTOR Mark III

The RAPTOR Mark III

GriffX — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 14:39:26 -0800

"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

By: xmutex

xmutex — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 14:59:43 -0800

Good lord, I wonder if I can do something similar to my Jetta.

By: carter

carter — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 15:07:10 -0800

I hope it's not a trend.

By: th3ph17

th3ph17 — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 15:14:12 -0800

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.

By: jeremias

jeremias — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 15:16:07 -0800

Still not as good as this.

By: nickmark

nickmark — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 15:17:32 -0800

Straight outta Car Wars...

By: daver

daver — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 15:36:21 -0800

Can I get this for my segway? Damn dogs keep barking at me.

By: rough ashlar

rough ashlar — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 15:47:12 -0800

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?)

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 15:57:46 -0800

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.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 16:14:15 -0800

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.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 16:56:05 -0800

"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.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 18:21:18 -0800

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.)

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 18:36:25 -0800

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

By: Wingy

Wingy — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 19:25:23 -0800

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.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 20:18:35 -0800

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).

By: jammer

jammer — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 22:58:41 -0800

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?

By: mischief

mischief — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 23:45:52 -0800

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

By: Joeforking

Joeforking — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 02:06:27 -0800

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.

By: arto

arto — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 02:32:54 -0800

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!

By: sgt.serenity

sgt.serenity — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 04:26:19 -0800

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

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 06:52:30 -0800

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?

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 07:51:47 -0800

jammer - what asshole? I did away with that thing long ago. It's illogical and messy.

By: moonbiter

moonbiter — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 09:47:49 -0800

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.

By: moonbiter

moonbiter — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 09:50:17 -0800

er, ~~Mexicans~~ undocumented workers

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Tue, 17 Jun 2003 12:04:04 -0800

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.