AM General Corps US Army military Desert Storm Hummer H1 & H2 (HMMWV)

In 1979 preliminary design work for a High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) to meet US Army standards begin at AM General Corps (a subsidiary of American Motors) office in Detroit. The US army wanted a replacement to the Jeep. The US Military demanded a vehicle with light armour, deep water fording capability, Arctic and desert operational ability, reliability, durability and maintainability. New materials had to be designed to meet Vehicle weight constraints.

The First engineering prototype was completed in July 1980. AM General delivered eleven prototypes to U.S. Army in April 1982. Dynamics and Teledyne also submitted vehicles for testing. After a test period of five-month, the AM General vehicle was judged as the best vehicle. The first production contract for 55,000 U.S. military vehicles was awarded to AM General Corps. A new plant began being built in April 1983 and the main volume production of the ‘Hummer’ as the new vehicle was now known as, started in January 1985. An additional production contract for 33,331 was awarded in August 1989. In March 1992 the 100,000th military Hummer was produced.

Following its notoriety in the Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf War, AM General introduced a civilian vehicle. The first was delivered in July 1992. AM General sold the Hummer name, marketing and distribute rights to General Motors in December of 1999. AM General continue to produce the original Hummer (now called H1) at their Mishawaka plant. AM General will also build the Hummer H2 in a new state of the art manufacturing facility adjacent to the HMMWV/H1 plant.

In the beginning there were six different military Hummer vehicle types: the Cargo-Troop Carrier; the Armament Carrier; the TOW Missile Carrier; the Ambulance Carrier; the Shelter Carrier, and the Prime Mover. Later more than twenty subtypes were developed. The Up-Armored Hummers have been configured as a troop carriers. Up-Armored Hummers, were designed to protect its crew compartment from a wide variety of weapon threats. These were delivered to the US Army in 1995. This Hummer carried a two-person crew and eight passengers on bench seats in the rear of the vehicle. Some have their front windshield removed in order to cut down on reflection to prevent their position being given away at sunrise or sunset. Some Hummer types have heavy Machine guns mounted on the roof whilst others have been modified to mount a TOW Missile Launcher system. Hummers can be open or closed-topped. The roll bar is also as are all four-doors.

Model Armored Tanks, Assault Guns, Tank Destroyers & AFV 

There are many companies that now make model kits of Armored Tanks, Assault Guns, Tank Destroyers, AFV & Military Vehicles in various scales. Here are a few of them. Fujimi 1/76 plastic kit, Hinchliffe Skytrex in 1/76 scale, RAFM, AIRFIX model, Revell, MILICAST, Bandai, Academy model kits, Boford models, combat group dynamix, corgi, doyusha, 1/35 scale, 1/144 micro scale, 1/72 scale, Minichamps military diecast vehicles, Marui shooting tanks, Popy, modles, Revel, Solido, Takara, Tamiay, Tamiya, F-toys, Forces of Valour, Trumpeter, Franklin mint, Wartanks, resin, diecast, Furuta, Gaincorps, Dioramas, verlinden decals, Dragon, armour, ICM models, Italeri, Haasegwa, Testor, AFV club