The U.S. government is currently overstocked with Internally Transportable Light Strike Vehicle (ITV) “Growler” off-road vehicles and Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement 7 Ton (MTVR) cargo trucks and is about to pass the savings on to yoooooooooou!
Uncle Sam started auctioning big batches of surplus Humvees at the end of 2014, and I don’t know how many Jalopnik readers actually bought one but I sure did get a lot of emails from people who were excited about the sales.
Well, if you missed your chance on a Hummer, or if you did buy one and now want to explain your private military motor pool, maybe you want one of these limber-looking Growlers or an enormous cargo truck. Surplus liquidation site GovPlanet made an announcement this week saying both would be available in March, 2019.
An article on Military.com reported that the vehicles were coming from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, which apparently no longer need the things.
Here’s the sales pitch GovPlanet made about the two machines in a press release:
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“The M1161 ITV Growler is a 4×4 ‘jeep-style’ vehicle with a Navistar 2.8L diesel, 132-horsepower engine. It is approximately 13.5 ft. long, 5 ft. wide, and 6 ft. high. The ITV was developed by the American Growler company in 1999 and entered into service with the U.S. Marine Corps in 2009 as a utility, scout, or fast-attack vehicle.”
“The MTVR is a 6×6, seven-ton cargo truck with a Cat C12 diesel, 410-horsepower engine. It is approximately 26 ft. long, 8 ft. wide, and 11.5 ft. high. The MTVR entered into production in 2005 and is still in regular operation with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps as a prime mover for the M777 howitzer, as well as troops, fuel, water, and a wide variety of other equipment.”
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In other words, the growler is a little buggy and the MTVR is like a modern version of the old “Deuce and a Half.”
Oshkosh Defense, which builds the MTVR, claims that this monster can ford five feet of water and traverse a 60 percent gradient. These trucks can be set up for all kinds of cargo carrying or recovery duties, and they look badass regardless of what kind of cargo box you decide to put over the rear axles.
The Growler is more like a cross between a UTV and a Jeep. Or, you could think of it as the military version of the Mahindra Roxor. Military-Today claims it has a payload rating of almost 2,000 pounds, which means the jeeplet has got to be pretty stout. It was designed to be carried by aircraft and dropped wherever. With four-wheel steering and automatic tire inflation, not to mention tight dimensions, I would imagine this plucky little thing could get itself home from just about anywhere.
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Obviously, the real baller move here would be to buy an MTVR and a Growler to ride on its back, but I have a feeling getting license plates on either of these is going to be a pain. I have no idea how many of these trucks will be available or what they’re going to sell for, but you can track that information down and bid on GovPlanet’s website.
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