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Tuesday, 20 March 2018

The Light Infantry Division: The Mule

 
The Mule shall be a family of front engined,four and six wheeled,all wheel drive,unprotected vehicles available in a variety of configurations to fulfil a wide variety of tasks.
 
The Land Rover Discovery 4 based Supacat LRV 400 Mk 2 on the 16th of September 2015
 
 
The four wheeled base vehicle shall have a gross weight of four long tons,a gross payload (including the weight of the driver) of over four thousand pounds and an internal volume identical to that of the Pony,Matilda and Charger vehicles.
 
The Supacat LRV 600 concept shown at DVD 2016 on the 7th of September 2016
 
 
The six wheeled base vehicle shall have a gross weight of six long tons,a gross payload of over fifty-two hundred pounds and an internal volume identical to that of the Pony,Matilda and Charger vehicles.
 
 
Most Mules shall be neither armed nor armoured but a Three Eighths Inch Machine Gun and ballistic protection up to STANAG 4569 Levels 2,2a and 2b may be added in lieu of payload when required.
 
A Medical Emergency Response Team rushes an Afghan casualty from a helicopter to an ambulance at Lashkar Gar Helmand Afghanistan on the 19th of February 2009
 
 
The Mule shall generally be used as a more economical substitute for the Pony in benign environments such as driving schools,exercise areas,firing ranges,air fields,depots and bases.
 
Marine Corps aircrew load a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle on a CH53K King Stallion at Sikorskys Flight Center in West Palm Beach Florida in October 2016
 
The Mule shall not be routinely issued to any field unit,but shall be used in combat only when size or weight constraints preclude the use of the larger and heavier Pony. 
 
The General Dynamics Flyer 72
 
A ten man Light Infantry section equipped with a Mule shall weigh four long tons,half as much as a section equipped with a Pony.
 
A Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank and a Chinook Helicopter on the Salisbury Plain Training Area on the 7th of March 2014
 
 
A Super Merlin or Hermes helicopter shall be able to lift one section equipped with a Pony,two sections equipped with Mules or a full platoon equipped with a pair of Oxen.
 
Corporal Saul Ochoa guides Sergeant Trevor R Shepherd driving a M1161 Growler on to a MV22B Osprey at Camp Lejeune North Carolina on the 3rd of February 2015
A Super Merlin or Hermes helicopter shall be able to carry a Pony as an external load but shall be able to carry a Mule as an internal load.
 
A 40 Squadron Royal New Zealand Air Force C130 Hercules being loaded with land rover vehicles during Exercise Skytrain
 
A Centaurus aircraft carrying eight Light Infantry sections rigged for airdrop shall be able to carry about thirty-two long tons of additional fuel if they are equipped with Mules rather than Ponys,allowing a significant increase in airdrop radius.
 
 
 
A Centaurus aircraft shall be able to airdrop sixteen Mules using the Dual Row Airdrop System or air land twenty-four.
 
 
 
The Mule shall be able to exploit narrower roads and weaker bridges than the Pony.
 
 
The Mule may be regarded as the spiritual successor to the Land Rover Defender based Truck Utility Medium.
 
The Wildcat Defence Light Strike Vehicle 320
 
The Mule shall have an external space frame chassis,similar to that of the Ox,inside which a variety of inverted trapezoidal bodies may be bolted and on to which accessories may be fitted,it shall be powered by two and three cylinder variants of the engine used by the Ox.
 
OVIK-CROSSWAY CENTAUR heavy duty chassis options
 
Picture: Unknown photographer,OVIK-CROSSWAY photograph
 
British companies such as Ricardo,Ineos,OVIK-CROSSWAY,HORIBA-MIRA,Wildcat and Supacat have the ability to design and manufacture the Mule.
 
 
 (The Field Car renamed Mule,the Light Protected Truck renamed Pony,dead links replaced,new picture attributions and links added and text and pictures edited on the Twenty-second of January,Twenty Twenty-two)
 

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