We spoke with Resilient Tech's Vice Pres of Business Affairs Edward Hall, who filled us in on this interesting new product. The US military Humvees currently operate with a pneumatic tire with a run-flat donut insert. After a "ballistic event" where pressure is lost, the trucks can limp away at 30 MPH for up to 30 miles. The Resilient Technologies NPT is designed to operate at full capacity after an event with no limit to top speed or range.

The honeycomb-shaped wheel with rubber tread are comparable in weight to the current wheel/tire combo installed on Humvees but have a 100,000 mile service life with the option of retreading at the end and are essentially blast proof. The company is currently developing and testing the units with prototype delivery to military testing officials planned for December 2011 with intent is to bid on a big fat juicy contract and ramp up production. In addition to being safer for soldiers with a longer service life, as you can see if you're able to look past the booth professional annoyingly getting in the picture, they also look pretty cool.

Deuce-And-A-Half
Capable of towing over 7,000 pounds while simultaneously transporting a dozen NATO troops, the M35 "deuce-and-a-half" is one mean machine. There are numerous varieties of this vehicle, but they typically include a small cab, large covered bed and some form of turbocharged multi-fuel engine. And by multi-fuel we mean you can put just about anything in the tank and it'll run, including but not limited to: diesel, gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel and vodka.
Photo Credit: B&B

Sherman Tank
The most successful American tank of WWII, the M4 Sherman was a powerful, quick, and reliable military machine capable of going toe-to-toe with most German armaments. Fitted with a variety of guns and engines, the M4 wasn't always the best tank, but the ability to produce and field them cheaply and quickly was good enough to overwhelm the enemy. USA! USA! USA!
Photo Credit: FourFold

DPV Fast Attack Vehicle
Like it sounds, the DPV Fast Attack Vehicle is capable of speeds over 80 MPH on desert terrain, launching a grenade, and traveling over 1,000 miles. Powered by a 200 HP VW engine, the vehicles have found use primarily by special forces and were a major part of the Desert Storm operations.

Bradley Fighting Vehicle
The M2 Bradley is a fast armored fighting vehicle quick enough to keep up with the M1 Abrams tank and, equipped with a 25 mm chain gun and a pair of TOW missiles, surprisingly deadly given its smaller armaments. The platform is so capable and easy-to-produce it's been modified into an amphibious vehicle, fire support vehicle, and air defense vehicle.
Photo Credit: LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images

HUMVEE
Despite being developed in the late 1970s, the Humvee is the go-to vehicle for nearly every job the military has. Humvee is short for HMMWV which stands for high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle. With four-wheel drive, disc brakes, and an independent suspension the Hummer is worlds better than the Jeep. More than any other vehicle, it's the mechanical representation of the modern U.S. military. Photo Credit: OCINE ZAOURAR/AFP/Getty Images

Willys MB Jeep
With WWII around the corner, and the U.S. lacking anything better than a Model T or a bunch of horses, a vehicle was needed for European warfare. There were three versions of the original Jeep produced by different companies, but the Willys MB variant would prove to be the most enduring. The distinctive slotted-steel grille with embedded headlights is a design still used on Jeeps today.

M1 Abrams
Powered by a 1,500 HP gas-turbine engine and pure superiority, the M1 Abrams is more than 60 tons of badass rolling up to 45 MPH through wherever it wants. Equipped with composite armor and a 120 mm gun that can fire multiple times while in motion, the Abrams is a fearsome weapon in any theater.
Photo Credit: LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images

DUKW
Though relegated primarily to tourist boat duty, the DUKW or "duck," amphibious six-wheel truck was part GMC truck and part yacht, capable of speeds up to 55 MPH on land and 7 MPH in the water. The story of its commissioning involves being considered too risky for military service before saving a group of stranded Coast Guardsman. Both because of its practicality and its strange look, we love the "truck that can swim."

Dodge M37 Power Wagon
The Dodge Power Wagon, a four-wheel drive 3/4-ton truck, is the basis for the modern four-wheel drive pickup. But before it found its way into the hearts of civilian truck owners, the Power Wagon was the marine truck of choice for most jobs during the Korean War. Whether carrying troops, wounded, or weapons, the M37 was a rock solid truck for Americans fighting on less-than-solid turf.

M60A1 Armored Vehicle Launched BridgeThe M60A1 armored vehicle launched bridge (ALVB) is exactly what it sounds like: a mobile, armored bridge. There's not always time to wait around for engineers to erect a crossing, so the AVLB carries on its back a 60-foot bridge strong enough and wide enough to support just about every land vehicle in the arsenal — including itself.

The Chinese may deny their athletes are really 12 but there's no denying our love of Chinese Hummer clones, whether they be the BAW B60 or the Xiao Long Auto 2060L, and this just seals it. Seriously, when the country falls apart after a succession of natural disasters this wannabe-Humvee will be there to not cover it.

[Auto.Sohu via The Tycho]

Demo video of Boeing's YAL-1 Airborne Laser mounted to a 747-400:
Boeing demonstrated the new Avenger Laser System at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico last month with impressive results. They were able to shoot down three small UAVs with the 1kW laser system and used the demonstration as a testbed for the U.S. Military. It was overseen by representatives of the U.S. Army's Cruise Missile Defense Systems project office. Small UAVs pose an increasing threat to U.S. troops in war zones based on their ability to carry ammunition and surveillance devices.

The primary reason for using lasers in the battlefield is the stealth factor that they provide. Whereas missiles leave a smoke plume that can easily be seen for miles, a laser defense system leaves no trace, therefore the ground troops location will remain undetected.

"Small UAVs armed with explosives or equipped with surveillance sensors are a growing threat on the battlefield," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Directed Energy Systems. "Laser Avenger, unlike a conventional weapon, can fire its laser beam without creating missile exhaust or gun flashes that would reveal its position. As a result, Laser Avenger can neutralize these UAV threats while keeping our troops safe."

This was the stuff of movies, comics and video games for years, but it looks as if it's finally starting to become a reality and we're excited.

Boeing Press Release:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Jan. 26, 2009 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has successfully demonstrated that a laser system mounted on an Avenger combat vehicle can shoot down a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) like those that increasingly threaten U.S. troops deployed in war zones.

During tests last month at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Laser Avenger achieved its principal test objectives by using its advanced targeting system to acquire and track three small UAVs flying against a complex background of mountains and desert. The laser system also shot down one of the UAVs from an operationally relevant range. These tests mark the first time a combat vehicle has used a laser to shoot down a UAV.

Representatives of the U.S. Army's Cruise Missile Defense Systems project office observed the tests.

"Small UAVs armed with explosives or equipped with surveillance sensors are a growing threat on the battlefield," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Directed Energy Systems. "Laser Avenger, unlike a conventional weapon, can fire its laser beam without creating missile exhaust or gun flashes that would reveal its position. As a result, Laser Avenger can neutralize these UAV threats while keeping our troops safe."

The tests follow a 2007 demonstration in which an earlier version of Laser Avenger neutralized improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and unexploded ordnance (UXO) on the ground.

"We doubled the laser power; added sophisticated acquisition, tracking and pointing capability; and simplified and ruggedized the design," said Lee Gutheinz, Boeing program director for High-Energy Laser/Electro-Optical Systems. "Boeing developed and integrated these upgrades in less than a year, underscoring our ability to rapidly respond to warfighters' needs."

Laser Avenger integrates a directed energy weapon together with the kinetic weapons on the proven Avenger air defense system developed by Boeing Combat Systems in Huntsville, Ala. It is a Boeing-funded initiative to demonstrate that directed energy weapons are maturing and are relevant to today's battlefield.

Boeing leads the way in developing laser systems for a variety of U.S. Air Force and Army warfighter applications. These systems include the Airborne Laser, the Advanced Tactical Laser, the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator and the Tactical Relay Mirror System.

[via Boeing]

Sergey Babichenko, a representative of Russian Machines' parent company, wrote to ABC News, explaining, "Mr. Deripaska is a respected member of society, a leading Russian businessman, a philanthropist and an outspoken champion on vital global issues of sustainable development and climate change." That last part's what has us worried: We fear that Deripaska may not be aware of the scope of the environmental backlash Hummer has faced in the States. Then again, if Rick Wagoner had just stuffed naysayers into the trunk of a limo and taken them for a "little ride," perhaps Hummer sales wouldn't be down by 60% this year. [ABC News]

Coggiola, a design firm based in Turin, Italy, created the T-REX back in 2000 as a concept vehicle to display at that year's Geneva Motor Show. We're not sure what exactly they were thinking at the time, but the Italians took the chassis of a Hummer H1 and made a completely custom body and interior for it. You would think they would shoot for something dramatically stylish, but the end result looks to us like a bloated Jeep Grand Cherokee that just feasted upon a liberty. Sure, the 6.5-liter turbo-diesel engine and all the tough off-road drivetrain remains, so it does retain some function to its form. Actually, with all that interior room you could probably even live in this thing, so perhaps it's even more purposeful than before. However you feel about the T-REX, the current asking price of about $800,000 is probably enough to keep away all but the most oil-rich buyers.
[eBay Italy via CarScoop]

"To see these tanks crossing country at speed was a thrill which seemed inexhaustible — many times it encouraged us, and we were very proud of our Crusaders; though we often had cause to curse them."

Where do you fall in?A Tank? An Amphibious Vehicle? An Armet Gurkha? We're partial to the DUKW ourselves. What's your all-time favorite military land vehicle?

During the past few years (and even still today), nearly every carmaker was jumping over itself to bring a full-sized SUV to market. Hell, there's talk even Bentley is considering it. But back in 1986, the odds of a supercar builder such as Lamborghini producing an SUV were as likely as Martha Stewart branding a line of assault rifles. They had a good reason to do so: profits. During the late 1970s, Uncle Sam was looking for the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle we'd later know as a HMMWV, or Humvee. And just as the New York Dolls' David Johansen morphed into Buster Poindexter, Lamborghini took a stab at building an all-rounder for the American Army. Why not?

The Rear-Engined 1970 FMC' XR 311 Concept

The 1977 Rear-Engined Lamborghini Cheetah Prototype

In 1977, Lamborghini fashioned the Cheetah prototype. Talk about a bastard; the Cheetah was built by US-based defense contractor Mobility Technology International. Turns out MTI lifted the design from FMC's 1970 concept, the XR 311. FMC eventually sued both Lambo and MTI, but the odd couple pressed on. The fiberglass Cheetah was built in San Jose and transported to Italy so Lamborghini could work its hocus pocus in the form of a 5.9-liter Chrysler V8 in the rear, hooked to a three-speed TorqueFlite transmission. Hardly the stuff of fantasy, these off-the-shelf Mopar bits.

The weird off-road dynamics of the Cheetah's rear-engine setup led the US military not only to pass on the Cheetah, but also to crash and destroy the only prototype. For you Area 51 types, the US Army never returned the Cheetah's remains to Lamborghini or MTI. (Mulder, are you there?) Subsequently, the US military signed a contract with AM General to produce the Humvee in June of 1981. Though, it seems obvious to those of us with eyes, the Cheetah's styling inevitably influenced the Humvee.

Undeterred, Lamborghini pressed on with its proto-SUV. The product finally saw the light of day in 1986. Gone was the peculiar rear-engined chassis and Mopar power. In was a proper (for off-road purposes) front-engine set up and a V12 lifted from the Countach. We could pretty much end this writeup with that last sentence. Does your SUV have a 48-valve DOHC V12 from the world's most lusted-after supercar of the 1980s? Didn't think so. Pressing on, Lamborghini draped the interior in sumptuous Italian cow hide, rich carpets, power everything and AC. Outside of a Range Rover, these accouterments were unheard of in an off-roader. The LM002 even had a premium Alpine cassette deck mounted in the roof. And that was just the civilian version.

While the US military decided not to play bocce ball, despotic armies all around the Mediterranean were enthralled by Lamborghini's four-kinds-of-butch 4x4. The Saudis ordered 40 of 'em, while Libya's Muammar al-Qaddafi went for 100. Idi Amin was probably kicking himself for getting deposed in 1979. You know he would have amassed a fleet of thousands. The military versions all came with a trap-door roof hatch above the rear seats, so passengers could point their AK-47s in whichever direction their hearts desired, plus machine gun mounts on the back. Actually, the Saudi version came with machine guns.

I remember in January of 1988 when the old man took me to the LA Auto Show. In the building that housed the "other" manufacturers, there was a pearl white LM002, parked right next to a now-forgotten Vector. I'm sure I saw all forms of hot Mustangs, Corvettes, Porsches and Ferraris, but I don't remember a single one of them (though I do remember a Peugeot 405 Wagon...). That LM002, however, was burned into my memory banks. It was as if I'd stumbled into a superhero's garage. It was a car Wolverine would drive. And unlike the Vector W8, the LM002 could actually move. Later that year, when a drug dealer on Miami Vice was tormenting Crocket and Tubbs in an LM002, my feelings were confirmed.

Finally, before you vote, just look at it. Note the sinfully wide custom-made run-flat Pirelli Scorpions. Check out the beefy power bulges on the hood, due to the huge air cleaner mounted above the six Weber carbs. How can you not love the combination of skid plate and tubular bumpers/radiator guard? While 455 horsepower was an SUV record until Porsche's Cayenne Turbo S came along 20 years later (and as impressive as that is), we suggest you vote the LM002 because it still looks so brutally fantastic. Sure, SUV's are half-a-dime a dozen these days, and have been totally co-opted by the soccer marm, "think of the children!" crowd. But back in this Lamborghini's heyday, nothing else on earth was as flat-out awesome. To this day, we can't think of another vehicle with as much raw überholprestige. Talking with Mr. Davey G Johnson about this week's Fantasy Garager, he explained, "The LM002 may very well be the coolest car of the 80s." Meaning this Lamborghini is cooler than the Countach and the GNX. We can't hardly argue. And we got little else to say.

LM002 Bonus Points:

• A hooned out, 600 hp, full roll cage and plexiglass windowed version was constructed for Paris-Dakar but never entered. That vehicle did race in the Egyptian Rallye des Pharaons a couple of times.
  
• Between 1986 and 1993 total production is thought to have been just 328 vehicles. For comparison's sake, Jaguar made 281 XJ220s while Ferrari produced 1,315 F40s.
  
• In 2004, the US Army "accidently" blew up Uday Hussein's LM002. Is that an "oops," a "D'oh!" or just a fat old, "we suck at life?"
  
• A single Estate (station wagon) bodied version exists. Rad.
  
• [Update] Hunter S. Thompson had one. Game over.
  

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[The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage appears every Tuesday. Readers vote the cars in or out. The idea is that we'll have 50 cars in our Fantasy Garage, the world's greatest mechanic and endless wads of cash. Would you like to nominate a car for the Fantasy Garage? Write tips@jalopnik.com with the subject line "Fantasy."]

The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage, So Far:
RUF RT12 | Maserati Quattroporte Executive GT | 1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage | Honda 1300 Coupe 9 | 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe | Ferrari 288 GTO | Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 | 1970 Buick GSX 455 | First Generation BMW M Coupe | Bugatti Veyron 16.4 | Ford GT | Citroen SM | Porsche 928 | Jensen FF | DeTomaso Vallelunga | Audi Quattro S1 | Buick GNX | Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R | Honorary Fantasy Garager: The LS1 Powered Rotus

German magazine WirtschaftsWoche, whose name is neither more nor less ridiculous than any other German magazine we quote, is reporting that DaimlerChrysler is abandoning its majority stake in Setareh, the exclusive distributor of Mercedes-Benz products in Iran. The magazine sites a source who says increased pressure from the US on companies doing business in Iran is the main reason for the move. The DCX pullout contrasts sharply with a business-exchange plan proposed by the Bush Administration to flood the country with Humvees. – Matt Hardigree

DaimlerChrysler to exit Iran [CNNMoney.com]

Related:
The Jalopnik Morning Shift [internal]

Armet Armored Vehicles

Related:
The Up-Armored Humvee: Putting On The Pounds, Rolling Over Like The Fatties They Are [internal]

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Exclusive Transformers Movie Update: Megatron's Nastier Than Prime!; Exclusive Transformers Movie Update: Bedouin Village Pics!; Exclusive Transformers Movie Update: Barricade's A Bad Saleen, Yes He Is!; Exclusive Transformers Movie Update: Optimus Prime And Starscream Robot Modes Are Teh Suck — And The Pictures Prove It! [internal]

Report: Armor causing Humvees to roll [CNN]

Related:
At Ease, Soldier: Humvee Sofa [internal]

There's nothing like the smell of novelty furniture in the morning. We'd imagine this piece would go well with any decor that makes liberal use of olive-drab camouflage and government-issue housewares, like a kid's bedroom, the common area at an Idaho militia training camp or the waiting room outside Dr. Killdeer's office (apologies to Richard Chamberlin). It would also make a great conversation starter, or ender as the case may be.

Hummer Humvee Sofa [Winelady.com]

Related:
US Army Orders Minivans Over Hummers to Save Fuel [internal]