Tuesday 20 March 2018

The Light Infantry Division: The Ox

 
An Israel Defense Forces Polaris Ranger MVRS800 Ultra Light Tactical Vehicle on the 27th of February 2012
 
The mechanical Ox shall be a small,front engined,four wheel drive,four or six wheeled beast of burden.
 
A Polaris Ranger MVRS800 Ultra Light Tactical Vehicle
 
Oxen shall perform tasks for which larger vehicles would be either unnecessary or impractical due to their size and weight.
 
The 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade receives the new Aviation Light Utility Mobile Maintenance Cart on the 22nd of October 2016
 
 
Oxen shall be issued to any unit which has a need of them,they may be found digging fighting positions near the front line,carrying pilots to the flight line or mowing the lawn in front of the officers mess.
 
Marines with Company B 1st Battalion 1st Marine Regiment 1st Marine Division at Fort Hunter Liggett California on the 2nd of September 2015
 
 
The Ox shall have a gross payload (including the driver) of at least sixteen hundred pounds and a gross weight of around two long tons.
 
An IAS MACH 2 Maintenance and Cargo Hauler with Trail Braker Trailer
The four wheeled Ox shall be less than eight feet long,the six wheeled Ox shall be less than ten feet long,both shall be less than four feet wide,less than four feet high with the roof folded down and less than six feet high with the roof erected.
 
A General Dynamics Flyer 72 Ground Mobility Vehicle
 
Floors,doors,bulkheads and roof protected to STANAG 4569 Level 1 may be fitted to the Ox in lieu of payload but the standard vehicle shall only have weather protection.
 
A Polaris MRZR4 Light Tactical All Terrain Vehicle dropped from a C17 Globemaster III at Fort Bragg North Carolina on the 10th of July 2015
The Ox shall not have any provision for armament.
 
Paratroopers of 1st Battalion 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment train with the Light Tactical All Terrain Vehicle on Fort Pickett Virginia on the 26th of February 2015
 
 
In the transport role the Ox shall have seats for four or six paratroops,including the driver,and space for their equipment when in heavy Marching Order (Emergency Approach March Load to American readers),a weight of at least four hundred pounds per man.
 
A jeep bringing casualties to a Regimental Aid Post during Operation Bluecoat the offensive south east of Caumont on the 30th of July 1944
In the medical role the Ox shall be able to carry three casualties on stretchers in addition to the driver and a medical attendant or two casualties on stretchers,two walking wounded and a medical attendant in addition to the driver.
 
An M274 mechanical mule during the joint United States of America and Honduras Exercise Ahuas Tara II Big Pine on the 22nd of May 1984
 
 
In the logistical role the Ox shall be able to carry a driver in marching order weighing three hundred and fifty pounds and over twelve hundred and fifty pounds of ammunition,fuel,water,rations or other combat supplies,typical loads might include forty Four Inch Mortar bombs or forty Six Inch Rockets.
 
 
 
In the engineering role a powerful hydraulic arm may be fitted in lieu of the Ox's rear load bed and seats and when the transfer case is set in low range,the suspension may be hydraulically locked and power take-offs activated permitting the use of items such as bucket loaders,fork lifts,dumper buckets,back hoes or augers.
 
Navy Equipment Operator 1st Class Christopher J Grammer of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25 at United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Cuba on the 23rd of March 2010
 
 
The Ox shall have one rearwards facing seat to facilitate the operation of engineering equipment,one forwards facing seat for normal driving and two optional,inward facing seats above the rear wheel arches.
 
Marines with Force Company 1st Reconnaissance Battalion 1st Marine Division exercise aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton California on the 16th of March 2015
 
 
Fittings at the front and rear shall permit the carriage of items such as ballast plates or fuel cans or the pushing of items such as dozer blades or mine rollers.
 
A Polaris MRZR D2 and Tactical Trailer
 
 
Front and rear tow hooks shall permit the towing items such as half ton cargo trailers,trenching tools or small aircraft
 
A Polaris Ranger Diesel 1000 engine
 
 
The Ox shall have a single cylinder diesel engine which shares mechanical components with those of the Mule and Pony.
 
A General Dynamics Flyer 60 Internally Transportable Vehicle
 
Picture: Unknown photographer,General Dynamics photograph
 
The Ox shall have an external space frame chassis within which is mounted the ballistic and weather protection which forms the vehicle's "body",this arrangement being similar to the Mule. 
 
An RT240 Kalmar Rough Terrain Container Handler moves a shipping container at Fort Hood Texas on 14 January 2014
 
 
By folding down the roof,one Ox may be stacked on top of another,in this manner,ten Oxen shall fit inside a standard twenty foot shipping container.
 
Marines with Battalion Landing Team 3 1 of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit fit a tactical vehicle into a tracked vehicle for the first time on the 15th of June 2011
 
 
A single Ox,with roof folded,shall fit inside the Mule,Pony,Matilda and Charger family of vehicles.
  
A Polaris MRZR4 Lightweight Tactical All Terrain Vehicle sits on the Drop Zone during Exercise Swift Response at Torun in Poland on the 7th of June 2016
 
 
A Centaurus aircraft shall be able to airdrop forty Oxen and one hundred and sixty paratroops,air drop eighty oxen using the Dual Row Airdrop System or air land one hundred and sixty Oxen.
 
A Chinook helicopter dropping two Luchtmobiel Speciaal Voertuigs of 11 Air Mobile Brigade during Excercise Bevo Seals on the 8th of July 2015
 
 
A Super Merlin,Ultra Merlin or Hermes helicopter shall be able to carry ten Oxen as a sling load.
 
A JCB 1CX backhoe loader
 
Picture: Unknown photographer,JCB photograph
 
Companies such as J.C.B. and Supacat should be able to design and manufacture Oxen,without accessories,for around fifteen million pounds sterling per thousand.
  

(The Field Car renamed Mule,the Light Protected Truck renamed Pony,dead links replaced,new picture attributions and links added and text and pictures edited on the Thirty-first of January,Twenty Twenty-two)
 

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