The Grizzly APC is a 22-ton
infantry mobility vehicle
An infantry mobility vehicle (IMV) is a four-wheel drive armored personnel carrier (APC) serving as an armed military transport, military patrol, reconnaissance or security vehicle. Those IMVs are distinct from 8-, 6-, and 4-wheeled APCs (su ...
designed and manufactured by
Academi for
urban combat.
Design
4x2, 4x4, and 6x6 versions with three different Caterpillar diesel engines are available.
Its armor, called the "Blackwater High Threat Armor Protection System" is claimed to defeat 12.7 mm
.50 caliber heavy machine gun
A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...
rounds as well as
IEDs. It is constructed of AR500 steel, and incorporates
angled walls and a
v-hull chassis
A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
to deflect the blast waves produced by explosives. It uses Fiber-Tek armor reinforced belly and lowers, with a fully enclosed
drive train. ArmorThane tactical coating on the interior and exterior reduces
spall
Spall are fragments of a material that are broken off a larger solid body. It can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact, corrosion, weathering, cavitation, or excessive rolling pressure (as in a ba ...
probability.
There are two top-side egress hatches, five
gun ports (two on each side and one in rear), and
bullet resistant glass windows, capable of NIJ level 3 protection. The Grizzly makes use of forward and rear 400,000+
candle power halogen
The halogens () are a group in the periodic table consisting of six chemically related elements: fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and the radioactive elements astatine (At) and tennessine (Ts), though some authors would ...
searchlights, which can be operated remotely. It also has a ringmount roof
turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...
, capable of mounting a 12.7mm heavy machine gun, which may be operated from a
remote weapon station
A remote controlled weapon station (RCWS), remotely operated weapon system (ROWS), or remote weapon system (RWS), is a remotely operated light or medium-caliber weapon system, often equipped with a fire-control system, that can be installed on Co ...
.
Blackwater USA submitted two Grizzly APC vehicles to the
U.S. military, with EXO Scale anti-
EFP appliqué armor from ARES Systems Group, for the
MRAP II competition at the
Aberdeen Proving Ground
Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work at APG. There are 11 major commands among the tenant units, ...
. According to the
Army Times, the armor passed the testing, but the vehicle failed due to limited armor on the forward area of the vehicle (pictures on ARES' website shows less armor was used over the frontal area of the cab.) Blackwater had been hoping to discuss adding more armor to the forward area and threatened an automatic protest but it was disregarded, according to an
Army Times source.
Production
The Grizzly is manufactured by Blackwater Armored Vehicle, a division of Academi (formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide and Xe Services LLC), in a
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...
in
Camden, North Carolina.
It was scheduled to begin production in April 2007 and Blackwater predicted production of at least a vehicle a day to meet demand. However, the Grizzly was not selected by the US Army in 2008 and lack of projected non-US-military sales have forced cutbacks in staff at the plant.
The first Grizzly was built on a commercial
GMC (automobile)
GMC (formerly the General Motors Truck Company (1911–1943), or the GMC Truck & Coach Division (1943–1998)) is a division of American automotive manufacturer General Motors (GM) for trucks and utility vehicles. GMC currently makes Sport utilit ...
chassis. The current versions are built on a custom chassis supplied by
Seagrave Fire Apparatus, Clintonville, Wisconsin.
See also
*
List of AFVs
*
MRAP (armored vehicle)
References
External links
Blackwater Grizzly at Defense Update
{{Modern IFV and APC
Military vehicles introduced in the 2000s
Armored personnel carriers of the United States
Post–Cold War armored fighting vehicles of the United States
Blackwater (company)
Wheeled armoured personnel carriers
Armoured personnel carriers of the post–Cold War period