From the street, the GMC Yukons customized by Dillon Aero look like standard-issue SUVs. But, behind the tinted windows, lurks a fire-spitting dragon: a Dillon Aero M134D Gatling minigun. Designed for VIP escort, the Yukons are outfitted with a roll cage, steel-plate armor, and puncture-proof fuel cells and tires. Though weighing around nine thousand pounds, the vehicles can exceed speeds of a hundred mph, with forthcoming supercharged models should be able to go even faster.
At the first sign of trouble, the gunner can pop through roof panels mounted on spring-loaded gas shocks, swivel in a full circle, and unleash a withering, three thousand-rounds-per-minute barrage. That's fifty 7.62-mm bullets every second.
The two half-moon roof panels act as a shield, and the gun operates off its own electrical system, which feeds the ammo from three-thousand-round linked belts. "The vehicle lays down so much firepower so fast," says a Dillon Aero spokesman (who asked to remain anonymous), "if you're a bad guy, all you're going to want to do is keep your head down."
Dillon Aero is no stranger to withering fire; the Arizona-based company is the country's largest manufacturer of electric Gatling guns, which were first developed during the Vietnam War to suppress enemy fire from helicopters. Dillon Aero's guns are in wide use, mounted on everything from OH-57 Little Bird helicopters (think of the strafing scenes in the film Black Hawk Down) to Humvees.
When it comes to the armed Yukons, Dillon Aero is reticent about its customers; it says they include governments around the world friendly to the United States. Six of the vehicles were recently sold to an unnamed Middle Eastern government. Of course, all such weapons sales require official American export permits. Aside from a video (below) posted on YouTube, (a leaked promo, according to Dillon Aero), the Yukons have yet to make a public appearance, which is probably a good thing:
Rico says it's not gonna widely catch on, but there's certainly times it'd come in handy... (As would she, though she's an additional charge, sorry.)
No comments:
Post a Comment