The wit and wisdom of the US military

Once upon a time the US military needed an all-purpose vehicle:

[Sorry about the soundtrack, but the consolation is Marilyn at 1:53]



In 1942 the whole commissioning process took eleven days for design and tender, 49 days to prototype, and 75 days to delivery of evaluation batch.

By the end of the War, Willys and Ford had produced well 640,000 of them. At the end of hostilites, they were dumped in the theatres of operations, because they were so cheap it wasn't worth bringing them home.

Time passes.

In 1999 the US Marines needed an all-purpose vehicle. After ten years, it is now ready for deployment. So take a look:
Each vehicle, known as a "Growler", will cost the US budget $209,000. Repeat: that's each.

It is designed to tow a 120mm mortar and ammunition trailer. The whole set-up (Growler+mortar+trailer) costs $1,078,000.

So far, the US Marines have committed to buy 81 Growlers and 12 mortars with ammunition trailers.

Note: "military intelligence" is a well-attested oxymoron. Sphere: Related Content