If you think where everything started with the Howe brothers, you almost can’t believe how far they got. 15 years ago, they began their developmental unmanned light tank as a small family project. Now, they work for the United States Army and have more civil customers than they can handle.
The world of vast machinery takes us back to the two brothers who have spent most of their lives creating the impossible so that they could prove engineering has no limits. It so happens we’ve just stumbled upon a never seen before video they’ve released just now.
The clip may be short, but that doesn’t mean it’s not full of information. You see, one of the keys for this tank to jump hills as if it was flying is related to its top notch suspension system.
According to Howe&Howe, Ripsaw is considered to be the smoothest tracked vehicle ever developed. Its suspension has over eight patents allowing it to float over obstacles at high speeds. Not only is this a slow-motion video, but it also shows test footage taken as it’s popping over 16’’ logs and log piles. You can see how the beast jumps around with no concern for losing its tracks on the way.
We were saying earlier that they can’t handle their civil customers. We were referring to their luxury super tank, the EV2. We’re looking at 3,500 hours of work for each unit, 12 inches of suspension travel, luxurious interior and over 600 diesel horsepower. The EV2 is built on the brothers’ popular Ripsaw platform, as most of their off-road machines, only that this one is their biggest model so far.
The EV2 is also the first of the kind to be available for civil purchase. It can cost well into the 100s of thousands, but that didn’t seem to stop people from asking for one. To be honest, we’d love to take it for a test ride anytime, so we can’t blame these people.
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