Dune Buggies

We millennials must have played the flash game dune buggy from funtoosh at least once in our life, right ? As I recall it was one of the most popular web games of the 90s.

Why buggies and military ? well...

Let us take a look at the ongoing stand off between India and China at the Himalayas. The plateaus of Ladakh and Tibet are considered as cold deserts, the infrastructure present there for the movement of heavy vehicles are minimal. This presents an opportunity for deploying fast, light and nimble vehicles for supporting the troops. Imagine these vehicles carrying a pair of anti-tank missiles or man portable air defense systems ( more popularly known as ATGMs and MANPADs respectively). They could wreak havoc among the enemy by adopting a tactics of fire and scoot.

This has proven effective against slow but heavily armored enemies time and again during several conflicts of the 20th century. These vehicles have been successfully deployed by the special forces of world powers. So it is high time our military also does the same.

And for India, our military planners does not have to look far for innovative designs of the said "dune buggies". Every year multiple student competitions are held for designing the best all terrain vehicles and I am a proud member of one such team ( I would like to point out that the first two photos are of my team's proud chariots..LOL ).