That reminded me of a time I was in Japan and was able to attend a demonstration by their Ground Self Defense Forces. I really don't remember much I saw that day, the typical tanks and helos, marching formations and whatnot. But one demonstration did stick in my mind. A squad of men on mountain bikes raced down a mountain. As they approached the bottom, they locked their handlebars in place and, maintaining speed, unsheathed rifles and assaulted through an imaginary enemy at the base of the hill.
Wikipedia tells me this may have been the bike they were riding, the Honda XLR250R, although I don't see the rifle sheath. Maybe my memory is faulty; maybe the rifles were slung. Or maybe it was a different bike. Anyway, here's a photo from Wikipedia:
This reminds me of bicycle infantry units. Maybe I'll do a post on that next.
I hear SOCOM is after a quiet dirt bike for certain applications.
ReplyDeleteIndian's parent company, Polaris, might make them one, then. A quiet dirt bike would be a great recon vehicle, I imagine.
ReplyDeleteThe DAGOR is one of theirs, for example.
ReplyDeleteThey could put a hybrid battery and kinetic absorber on it to run night vision/system recharge apps, and silent slow drives in the dark. Similar to the utility provided to infantry by mules. Could be a potential solution to all that weight packing issues for pure non mechanized infantry. It becomes difficult to outmaneuver light no armor infantry in cities. And America has a lot of cities.
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