Pookie (vehicle)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A Pookie deployed in 1979

The Pookie MRAP vehicle was created to deal with the constant mining of roadways during the Rhodesian Bush War.

Description

The Pookie was a small one-person vehicle named after the

go-cart with an elevated cab to protect the driver.[1] The bottom of the cab had a V-shaped reinforced hull to deflect the blast away from the operator. Sensor 'pans',[clarification needed
] resembling rectangular wings, were lowered and used parallel to the ground below the cab. When the vehicle was transported, the pans were raised at a 45 degree angle.

According to Trevor Davies Engineering, manufacturer of the Pookie, "...of the 76 vehicles built between 1976 and 1980 none ever detonated a mine, though 12 were lost and two drivers were killed."

to whom?] of the remaining fatality, caused by an RPG
, also resulted in the loss of vehicle and if that loss was included in the previous count.

In 1999, an unknown number of new Pookies were manufactured by MineTech, a British company specialising in mine countermeasures. The MineTech Pookie was virtually identical to the Rhodesian Pookie, only fitted with a different engine and detailed improvements such as hydraulic steering. It was deployed to Afghanistan and Somalia by private de-mining contractors.[2]

Operators

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c "Pookie". Archived from the original on 2008-11-13. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
  2. ^ IED’s, Mines, Route Clearance and Talisman

References

External links