https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXoz6TvsQfc
If you've ever seen the movie Fate of the Furious, which is the eighth installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, you probably remember the badass tank that drifts through ice and snow, looking like it can dish out some serious damage.
While in the movie Ludacris' character is behind the wheel, the tank that you saw on the big screen is based on the unmanned Ripsaw tank, which is an actual U.S. Army test vehicle that just so happens to also be one of the fastest tanks in the world. Pretty sweet, right? Well, don't just take our word for it. See for yourself.
Developed by Maine-based Howe & Howe Technologies, the Ripsaw is powered by a Duramax diesel engine and mounts an M153 CROWS weapons station, which is capable of handling up to a .50-caliber machine gun.
With a top speed of just over 100 MPH, the luxury tank packs 750 horsepower. It's also just under 10,000 pounds, which makes it too fast and light to technically be considered a standard tank. Clearly, this thing isn't for traditional military use.
There are five different variants of Howe and Howe Tech's Ripsaw, and, in the video below, you can see the Ripsaw EV2 in action -- the luxury super tank version that costs about $1 million. This thing is definitely no joke.
Say what you will about the Fast and Furious movies, but the people behind them sure do know how to bring in some insanely high-performance and extreme vehicles, either capable of wildly high speeds or incredible off-road capabilities.
Considering that they'll probably find a way to churn out at least another five of those movies before they exhaust the franchise, I'm sure we'll see even more wild machines than the Ripsaw tank going forward.
This post was originally published on November 28, 2018.