[FOX] Were it not for efforts by the U.S. military to develop a lightweight, unarmored, all-terrain vehicle for the battlefield there might not be a market for SUVs today. It all began 75 years ago last December when the United States military adopted the 'jeep', and while the iconic military vehicle was phased out and replaced by the Humvee ‐ the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) in the early 1980s ‐ the Army could go full circle and bring back the jeep.Last year the Army began gearing up its Ground Mobility Vehicle Program for fiscal 2017. It was part of the Army's Combat Vehicle Modernization Strategy that sought to procure lightweight combat vehicles for infantry brigade combat teams. The vehicles considered sound very much like what first entered service back in 1940.
The Origins of the Jeep
The U.S. Army saw the need for such a go-anywhere four-wheel vehicle when it went "Over There" to France during the First World War. The Four Wheel Drive Auto (FWD) and Thomas B. Jeffery Company supplied the military with the first four-wheel drive trucks, but with another war looming military planners saw a need for a new light, cross-country reconnaissance vehicle. In July 1940 the Army formalized its requirements, which were submitted to 135 U.S. automobile manufacturers.