Gliders!

 They were at their hey day during World War-II (1939-45).

During the D-Day landings these enginless birds, if they made it safely down were a God send to the operations to crush the Nazis in Northern France, carrying in weapons, men and essential equipment?

Both the American Jeep and the British Bren carrier with light artillery were the importance of the day, allowing troops to move fast ahead of the main divisions and their heavier armor

But many did fail and many lives were lost, but after all is said they did have their respective successes, as in comparison today the glider is more of a sporting craft, towed up and glides back down again allowing many people to experience real flight!

It is unlikely that the transport gliders will ever be used again, technology has moved to helicopters and now to drones and their aircraft equivalents?

Jeep Wars!

 Commercial Replacements?

Today the field for the Jeep concept would seem to be limited to Range Rover, Mercedes, the Nomad and a few others in the U.S.A? 

But this is not true, there are dozens of better vehicles on the market from Spain, Israel, France and Russia, that are never mentioned on British television out of bias for friends!

The world of the utility vehicle for the armed forces, civil agencies Search & Rescue, Fire services, Ambulances, RNLI, Animal Rescue and Postal Deliveries, and a host of commercial purposes from fun to business is being fulfilled by nearly ever nation that has an automotive industry, some are adaptions of the original Willy's Jeep and others of the Land rover Defender and Shorts armored?

Israel and Spain have really gone to town in their conversions with base frame vehicles to giver the driver a full experience of being close to the ground! 

Many other designs deal with more of a practical use and yet there is also a fun element to enjoy driving?

Italian deployments for COVID-19.

IVECO .

At this time most of us across the globe cannot escape the serious requirement to stay indoors because of this virulent virus that is spreading and worsening as it has in both China and now Italy?

It is noted with the deployment of the army to maintain a lockdown some vehicles deployed came from the Iveco range, Trakker At190T, LMV (2) Light, the MUV utility M40.is Torpedo and the WNS Ambulance version.

These type are the basis of a paramilitary support to the Police and are the versatile end of a successful range of good quality military hardware!

We tend to only know Iveco for limited number of heavy goods vehicles in which they are employed in the building industry, but Italy has its own manufacturing base for many important types and their own equivalents the Jeep?

ARV's.

Does the ARV still have a value?

Ever army needs reconnaissance, you need to know where the other side is, how many of them and what equipment is being deployed. In the second world war (1939-45), various types from motorbike and side car to armoured cars were deployed.

But in desert conditions small light tanks, such as the Crusader, German and American half-tracks were deployed. Special forces used there own adaptions based on the Rolls-Royce car chassis and later the American Willy's Jeep.

Today some wheeled and tracked vehicle's have been designed such as the Scorpion tank and variants from it. These vehicles are limited in armour, so if they get hit they are a small price to pay for in the reality of war and conflict.