Big Bang Ricochet 009: The Hellfire Fast Attack Vehicle (d20)
The US military has tried a broad range of dune buggies for military service¸ and among the most successful has been the M1040 Hellfire Fast Attack Vehicle. This Army-issued buggy spent nearly a decade on the front lines¸ meant as a harassing unit for the long expected Soviet invasion of western Europe through the Fulda Gap. Armed with the Army's heaviest ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile)¸ the TOW¸ each Hellfire carried the capability to knock out two platoons of Soviet armor. In addition to patrolling the Fulda Gap¸ the Hellfire also put in time with the USAF as a base security vehicle in the western states. A large number of them are also used by the Department of Energy's SRT units to patrol nuclear test sites in the same region. Lastly¸ between 1982 and 1985¸ a pair of Hellfires were modified by the US Navy¸ serving as testbeds for many of the teleoperation system that make today's numerous unmanned vehicles possible. Included with this book is an extensive writup of the BGM-71 TOW. This heavy anti-tank guided weapon¸ with more than 620¸000 missiles manufactured since 1970 and serving in 46 countries¸ is the most widely distributed anti-tank weapon in the world and has seen military use in no less than seven conflicts around the globe in the last 35 years.