Army still testing Ripsaw ‘Luxury Super Tank’

Nov 1, 2018

1 minute read

SUMMARY

The U.S. Army continues to test a lightweight tracked vehicle known as Ripsaw that’s now being pitched to the consumer market as a “luxury super tank.” A handful of the Ripsaw Extreme Vehicle 2, or EV2, products made by Howe and Howe T…

The U.S. Army continues to test a lightweight tracked vehicle known as Ripsaw that's now being pitched to the consumer market as a "luxury super tank."

A handful of the Ripsaw Extreme Vehicle 2, or EV2, products made by Howe and Howe Technologies Inc., based in Waterboro, Maine, are undergoing evaluations at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey to assess how they could be used in future combat operations. Indeed, on Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins, head of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, rode in one of the vehicles with a driver as part of a demonstration.

The company describes the 750-horsepower, optionally manned vehicle — which is capable of reaching speeds of almost 100 miles per hour and costs roughly $250,000 — as a "handcrafted, limited-run, high-end, luxury super tank developed for the public and extreme off road recreation."

For one, it's too light. At 9,000 pounds, the EV2 is closer in size to the Humvee than a tank. For example, the Army's M1A2 Abrams main battle tank tips the scales at more than 70 tons. Indeed, the Ripsaw isn't even in the same weight class as an M1126 Stryker Combat Vehicle or M2/M3 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

Also, it doesn't carry the same firepower. The EV2 is designed to accommodate the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station, which can mount any number of weapons — including the M2 .50-caliber machine gun, Mk19 40mm automatic grenade machine gun, M240B 7.62 mm machine gun and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. By comparison, the M1A2 tank's main armament is the 120mm L/44 M256A1 smoothbore tank gun.

Finally, it doesn't have any armor to speak of, just an aluminum frame with gull-wing doors. So it's really more of a tracked DeLorean than a tank (see picture below).

Even so, the manufacturer says the Ripsaw is the "fastest dual tracked vehicle ever developed."

And that may be why, several years after the vehicle was featured in "Popular Science" magazine in 2009, the Army remains interested in seeing how it might incorporate the EV2 into its combat formations. The service has tested the technology for at least a year — a soldier in 2016 operated a Ripsaw from a M113 Armored Personnel Carrier trailing a kilometer away, according to a press release at the time.

Here at Military.com, we're fascinated by the technology and reaching out to the Army to learn more about how officials are evaluating this slick ride, which is almost guaranteed to get more popular in the months and years ahead.