As my colleague Richard Sisk reported at Military.com, hundreds of U.S. Army paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will jump in to Poland next month in part to test how quickly they can move their new all-terrain vehicles out of the drop zone:
The troops will be dropping with about 10 of their MRZR all-terrain vehicles made by Minnesota-based Polaris Defense. (MRZR is not an acronym but simply a designator, said a Polaris spokeswoman.)The four-seat MRZRs were still a "pilot program" for the 82nd but were intended to give the paratroopers more mobility once they hit the ground. "It's a little more robust" than commercial ATVs, Tuley said.
"These vehicles significantly enhance what would otherwise be foot mobility," Brig. Gen. Brian Winski, deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne, told Bloomberg News. "They change the dynamic and turn what would have been a three-mile per hour operation into a 50-mile per hour operation."
Polaris' website says the vehicles are built for extreme performance, with an 88-horsepower engine -- "the highest in the industry" -- dual overhead cams, four large valves per cylinder for high-RPM power, and dual throttle bodies near the intake valves. The propulsion systems offers "plenty of power" to carry four people, even in sand and other-sapping terrain, according to the website.
Here are some more images:
The MRZR all-terrain vehicle made by Polaris. (Image courtesy Polaris)
The MRZR all-terrain vehicle made by Polaris. (Image courtesy Polaris)
The MRZR all-terrain vehicle made by Polaris. (Image courtesy Polaris)
