2012 10Best: 10Best Military Vehicles

Because some of the most purposeful vehicles are also the coolest.

DECEMBER 2011
MULTIPLE PHOTOGRAPHERS

The DPV is basically a Volkswagen-powered dune buggy with guns. What’s not to love? Oh, yeah, Navy SEALs kick ass in these, too. Built by Chenowth Racing Products, which has previously constructed Class 1 Baja buggies, the DPV will go 80 mph with two soldiers strapped into its buckets. There are newer buggy-type attack vehicles, but this is the original.

The HMMWV is so last conflict. Take a look at the latest wheeled ordnance—from here and abroad—that some of the world’s militaries are using. Beige never looked so bad-ass.

The LVSR is what’s known in the business as a heavy tactical vehicle. “Heavy” because, in wrecker form, this 35.5-footer weighs 67,600 pounds; “tactical” because of its integrated armor and fully independent suspension. If you’re counting, that’s 10 independently suspended wheels. Jeep Wranglers weep in its presence.

“RT-2UTTKh Topol-M” is actually the designation for a Russian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but the 16-wheeled mobile-launching platform carrying it is made by Belarus-based MZKT. Just one of these ICBM warheads has roughly 38 times the destructive force of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in World War II.