What do other nations armed forces use? Nations not allied the the US and thus do not have contracts to Jeep or AM General.
I know in WWII the Germans built the Kubelvagen off the VW chassis to compete with the Jeep, and the British developed the Land Rover after the war.
Probably the favoirite vehicle of all time (post WWII) was the Toyota FJ. They were inexpensive, durable, could be adapted for any terrain or purpose and were easily servicable. Insurgent armies found them to be more useful than any other vehicle. They could swap parts to keep them going, mount a gun in the back and they were good to go anywhere, anytime. There are still a lot of them around the world.
Mitsubishi had a license from Willys to manufacture Jeeps for the Japanese military. Production continued until 1998, according to the Japanese Wikipedia page. It was replaced by a military version of the Pajero/Montero which I think is still being manufactured and used.
The Japanese military also has Toyota troop transport vehicles which look very much like the American HMMWV. I don’t know if it’s produced under license, or an imitation, or convergent evolution.
The Swedish armed forces have this. It’s made byBAE systems of South Africa and is a 7 metric ton, 18’ long, 6 cylinder diesel with a torque of 406 Nm @ 1.800 rpm
Third world armies like Toyotas (both trucks and Land Cruisers), as their are easily available commercially, abeit they generally don’t come with mounting points for weapons which have to be fashioned locally. European armies generally like either the Land Rover or the MB Gelandwagen (G-Wagon), although lots of European armies manufacture their own types. Eastern European armies still use the various Soviet GAZ type vehciles. Maybe China Guy can tell us if the Chrysler joint-venture Jeep plant in Beijing is still producing “BJ Jeeps” after the Germans took them over.
The Unimog has made by Mercedes since 1948:
http://www.olive-drab.com/idphoto/id_photos_unimog.php3
Of course, Jeep is owned by Daimler Chrysler, so that’s the same company as Jeep now.
Sticking to jeep-like vehicles. Since it’s introduction in the early eighties Norway’s been using Mercedes-Benz G-class vehicles. Here they’re known as Geländewagen, which is the generic German term for (all) terrain vehicle. According to the German wikipedia article it’s also in use in Germany, Argentine, Austria, Denmark, Finnland, France, Greece, Canada, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland. A version is also used by the US Marine Corps as the Interim Fast Attack Vehicle
Switzerland and Austria use the Pinzgauer.
Since you mentioned Land Rovers, here is some info on some military “jeeps” used in a handfull of different countries.
Kotick
The Indian Army usesthese. These vehicles haven’t changed much over the last 6 decades.
I remember reading about this. The Humvee was introduced as a bigger, more capable ‘light truck’ replacement for the jeep, but then it was found to be much too big, bulky and thirsty for many of the jobs that jeeps used to do. So they reintroduced jeeps. Clever, eh?
Someone tried selling the Mahindra to the Australia public about two decades again,I read in todays newspaper Atco are having another attempt,I don’t like their chances.
Regards Charlie
I believe Mitsubishi is also pitching them to the Chinese military. No idea how many they’re selling, though.
I dunno…If I had the chance to get a “brand new” CJ-3 or CJ-5, I would.
I wonder how feasible it is to mix-n-match AMC/Jeep parts to these Mahindra/Jeeps.
