How Totally Silent Motorcycles Changed Recon

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The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit has already adopted this asset and is adjusting their mobility teams around them. The zero MMX motorcycle is a revolution in recon technology. It has a 100% electric powertrain that emits zero exhaust and is completely silent when in neutral. These new capabilities will change the way the US military conducts future reconnaissance missions and direct action raids. But why would your average soldier ever want the added risk of an unarmored motorcycle? Couldn’t a drone do the same job but better?

Written by: Chris Cappy & Justin Taylor
Edited by: Michael Michaelides
Produced by: August Dannehl

in 2010 a US Marine named Golembesky said his unit in Afghanistan started to improvise since there was a shortage of bikes outside special forces. The Marines actually purchased cheap chinese knockoff motorbikes directly from the Afghanistan Bazaars or marketplace. The Marines then welded racks on the back of the bikes for added payload capacity and spray painted them with a tan camouflage coating. This allowed them to overcome long distances and harsh terrain. I get it, I mean I’ve seen the kind of slopes that need to be navigated by goats.

Picture an elite mobile biker gang of marines speeding across the mountains of Afghanistan. The tires grinding through the sand would be the loudest warning the insurgent would have. Marines launched successful surprise attacks on Taliban positions. Even the big conventional force of the Army took notice and started equipping ATVs to not just their special forces but regular troops.

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#WAR #MOTORCYCLE #SOLDIER

Insurgent forces around the world use silent fast-moving motorcycles to avoid modern sensors that detect heat and audio signatures this strategy has been deployed with terrifying Effectiveness over the past few decades US forces have become way down by this trend of extremely heavy armored vehicles that get stuck in the muddy terrain found on remote islands in the South China Sea this is why in 2014 the Pentagon awarded a contract to see if anyone could develop the most silent light infantry reconnaissance vehicle the result was a two- wheed hybrid electric stealth motorcycle that’s only 55 debl loud while still reaching a top speed of over 80 mph this is insanely quiet that’s about as quiet as your refrigerator hump this makes it the most covert way to rapidly move over remote terrain that you’ve probably never heard about this new capability will change the way the US military conducts future reconnaissance and direct action raids but why would your average soldier ever want to have the added risk of an unarmored motorcycle couldn’t a drone do the same job but better and how can you win this brand new $8,000 Kawasaki KLR 650 motorcycle it’s the actual civilian version of the military one it’s easy just click the link in the description head over to go.get to win.com taskandpurpose grab one of our cool limited edition Collectibles and get automatically enter to win this military grade off-road reconnaissance motorcycle I only have this opportunity thanks to our partner get enterto win.com we’ve already worked together this year to give away over $20,000 worth of night vision goggles thermal optics and a fixed wi drone to our viewers and now you have the chance to win this brand new KLR 650 that’s powered by a 652cc fourstroke single cylinder water cooled engine it’s dual sport so it’s designed to cruise at freeway speeds and navigate off-road trails effortlessly the marine and army Special Forces have deployed with this exact type of of motorcycle in support of the global war on terror so click the link in the description head over to go.get iner to win.com slask and purpose grab one of our cool limited edition Collectibles and get automatically entered to win this $88,000 brand new military grade motorcycle the deadline to enter is December 10th at 11:59 p.m. your support is what allows me to continue making free content so thank you and good luck but why this new investment well there are three primary Mission sets that the Department of Defense sees for bikes that we’ll cover first is for reconnaissance second for something called screening and third direct action raids during the late 20110 the majority of the focus of reconnaissance was on small unmanned drones but in the Pacific Theater we have to consider that drones won’t have the same luxury that they have in the Middle East and Europe this is because the thick multi-layer jungle canopies seen in and around Taiwan and neighboring Island chains block drones Vision they make it impossible to visually penetrate and see what what’s going on on ground level even with thermal vision soldiers need alternative outside the box solutions to safely get to and from the fight to this end the Marine Corps is currently training with what they call Mobility teams Mobility teams are Scout groups that Convoy to a predetermined release Point once at the release point the UL TVs are cashed or stowed away they then serve as a supply and Communications node while individual teams on bikes push out further once those bike teams reach another determined point the MMX themselves are then stowed and camouflaged two man Scout teams then push out on foot away from the bikes the goal is to create an offset from a friendly staging area to a Recon objective the further you’re able to create your staging area away from the target area the better because there’s less of a chance of retaliatory fire hitting your command location and what do troops do once they’re closer Marines from the 15th meu reported that they join joint terminal attack controller or jtac could silently get eyes on the target part of the JT’s job is to use his laser target designator to paint a target for extremely accurate laser guided bombs we recently learned from leak documents that GPS guided jams have a weakness they can be jammed by electronic warfare from Russia we saw this happen in Ukraine laser guided Munitions are more accurate than GPS but these bombs are useless without eyes on the ground and the catch is getting close enough to the Target to L them while staying undetected the approximate max range for designating a Target is about 6 miles stealth motorcycles can insert forward observers to perform this Mission it is frequently done deep Behind Enemy Lines the MMX gives snipers the ability to infiltrate to the objective fire off their shot and xfill in Silence with reduced signature this leads to the second primary tactic used for motorcycle troops which is screening what is screening generally speaking screening operations are when small light motorcycles in this instance are pushed out in front of the larger main body Force to its flanks the purpose of screening is to provide early warning of anti-tank guided missile teams their locations their strength without risking your main Force the third strategy for stealth motorcycles is direct action raids and this is huge because their usefulness in a conventional fight in raids has already been proven extensively in the war in Ukraine the Ukrainian military straps andlaw anti-tank missiles to the back of their electric bikes this is a successful strategy for anti-armor raids this example might be the most compelling evidence just how robust the use of electric bikes in modern conflict is when I see a paradigm shift in Warfare it’s often when two things are paired together in novel ways right genas Khan was able to conquer much of the known world not thanks simply to horses but thanks to its combination with the newly invented Stirrup paired with the bow and arrow in a similar way modern-day stealth motorcycles paired with new anti-tank guided Munitions that are lightweight have changed our understanding of Modern Warfare now I’m not saying this bike is going to unite the tribes of Central Asia and conquer the region but you get what I’m saying the concept of deploying with motorcycles into combat isn’t new in World War I the terrain was bogged down in mud which made running intelligence and orders to the front lines by foot incredibly difficult motorcycle Italians were able to solve this by quickly relaying Communications in World War II thousands of motorcycles were deployed and by the Korean War over 70,000 of the Harley-Davidson XA bikes were put into service for similar purposes including rear Security in fact during the Vietnam war motorcycles were used largely by military police to patrol the streets of Saigon and this is when Green Beret first adopted them they started to solidify how motorcycle tactics would be used going forward for example motorcycles were deployed all along the hoochi men Trail which enabled small teams to quickly gather intelligence execute hit-and run tactics and quickly run short supply missions as needed during this time period the relatively cheap and easy to maintain tool was also adopted by various Rebel factions around the world and became an effective weapon against conventional forces in asymmetric Warfare the reason why the US military no longer deploys tens of thousands of motorcycles anymore today is because of the development of long range encrypted telecommunication systems it ended the need for a period of time however the role is starting to grow once again thanks to new conditions in the field the global war on terror saw a revolution for combat bikes during the initial invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 US Army Special Forces operators realized that these larger sized Vehicles like Humvees really struggled over the mountainous Terrain that insurgents would flee into soldiers needed a faster more agile way of quickly traversing the ground and so motorbikes became a quick go-to but there was a problem the military used diesel fuel for all their vehicles at this point and civilian motorcycles ran on gasoline the KR 650s motorcycle civilian engine would need to be completely retooled hay Diversified technology set to work part of the issue here is that Diesel and jet fuel lack the kind of acceler ation power even though it works well for massive tanks and heavy armored vehicles hay technology successfully created a milspec motorcycle solution that would accept jpa fuel saving a logistics nightmare it did come at a slight performance cost though as it was rumored that the motorcycle’s acceleration was slightly slower but it could still reach 90 mph the resulting m1030 M1 bikes were modified with infrared headlights which allowed for use under night vision without giving away your location into the naked eye but only a few hundred were manufactured for the most elite missions sofrep.com reported how US Special Forces small siiz squads with sniper rifles and Night Vision Optics rode through the goat trails in the middle of the night targeting the enemy insurgents this is actually a great way to understand the concept of what’s called a capability Gap in the military motorcycles filled the capability gap between heavily armored vehicles and slow moving but highly mobile foot Patrols and this is why in 2010 a US Marine named golm bety said their special operators in Afghanistan started to improvise adapt and overcome the shortage issue they bought their own motorcycles to the fight by buying these cheap Chinese knockoff motorbikes directly from the Afghanistan bazars bizar is a middle eastern term for Marketplace which I wasn’t aware of either until deploying there injecting Capital into the local market aside the Marines would then weld racks onto the back for added payload capacity they would then repaint them with a beautiful tan camouflage coating according to golom bety the bikes were mainly there as a way to overcome covering large distances over harsh terrain picture this Elite Mobile biker gangs of US Marines speeding across the mountains of Afghanistan with thousands of rounds of ammo and heavy weapons the tires grinding through the sand would be the loudest warning that your Insurgent would have Marines launched successful surprise attacks on Taliban positions even the big conventional force of the US Army took notice and started equipping ATVs not just to their special forces but their regular troops as well to be honest these tactics were lifted straight from the enemy themselves Wikileaks even published a report that the Honda was the taliban’s preferred mechanized infantry vehicle and it was a massive part of their lightning offensive when they retook the country this was a case of fighting fire with fire because by 2012 the Marines had a 5-day long Recon training program that could train a unit of 56 troops on how to ride with 50 lbs of combat load out it took me about a week to learn how to get completely comfortable and operate the clutch on a motorcycle adjusting to added weight and gear is a big factor because simply leaning a few degrees can change the direction you’re riding the controls are very sensitive compared to a car if you’re not used to them then in 2014 the defense Advanced research project agency DARPA requested the design of a hybri HB engine motorcycle specifically for use in Afghanistan this way maybe we wouldn’t have to be so cheap and purchase knockoffs in country and if there’s any chance you found this video interesting so far fire around at that like button the concept of hybrid electric bikes had been around since 2006 but the military wanted something more rugged and purpose-built specifically for their combat needs the contract was earned by logos Technologies which had some serious problems to solve consider the fact that you have to account not only for the weight of the bike itself but also the fully Gucci kitted up operators driving with weapons and ammo weight affects range and range affects how you plan the entire operation to address this problem the stealth bike used a repurpose propulsion system it was originally designed for unmanned drone aircraft known as a gen set which is a combination of engine and Generator the finished stealth bike was known as the silent Hawk small Elite teams of operators are transported in helicopters with their silent Hawks in toe during the initial movement away from The Landing Zone the bikes would use a traditional combustion engine for that added power and once within audio distance or distance where the enemy could hear you from the target they would switch to the silent electric engine allowing them to sneak up on unsuspecting combatants the silent Hulk comes in at about 350 lb giving it a standard range of 170 m round trip but in practice that number is significantly lower going over harsh Terra terrain or with increased equipment carried if the bike’s range is shortened The Landing zone for the helicopter drop needs to be shortened also which brings you closer to the proximity of the Target and you could be shot down by anti-air missiles closer proximity to a Target and longer time flying increases risk of being compromised by sight sound or any kind of air detection radar in the area this sparked the move for further upgrades to the program such as switching to an aircooled engine and just removing the radiators entirely some of these changes did make the bike less stable and added more vibrations to it but nothing an elite soldier couldn’t handle right initial prototyping of the silen hawk wasn’t completed until 2017 but it didn’t quite catch on to full development and production at a wider scale now as of 2023 this Zer MMX stealth motorcycle is really starting to catch on Bravo Company of the first Marine reconnaissance Battalion was the first unit to deploy with a full complement and they plan to add even more by 2024 the advantage of the MMX is that it literally has no transmission no powertrain fluids and zero gas this makes it incredibly easy to maintain in AER remote environments generally the only maintenance required by the MMX is keeping moving Parts lubricated and tires replaced this electric bike allows light infantry to climb over vertical terrain and even cross shallow water obstacles although I wouldn’t want to test out how water resistant it is surprisingly this bike gives you 335 lb payload including Rider which means you have about 100 lb worth of additional weapon systems that you can carry after you factor in your individual body armor and ammo I have to admit some of these ebikes kind of look like they’re one step away from Simply Having pedals I feel like if the enemy spotted me riding on it they’d ask me if I had my mom’s permission to be out this late on a Wednesday night its two zforce lithium ion battery packs can be quickly swapped out full batteries give you about 80 Mi of off-roading this kind of lightweight attack is the last thing you would expect from a traditionally heavily armored slow-moving us Force working in tandem with the dune buggy UL TVs means bikes can refit recharge and perform light repairs from those larger Vehicles extending Mission time gaining stealth means there are trade-offs right in terms of off-roading performance when compared to a combustion engine keep in mind large armored vehicles like the jltv are unable to maneuver through the thick jungle vegetation found in the islands in the South China Sea what all of this means is new stealth motorcycles are in a perfect position to augment the reconnaissance role in the Pacific and again fill that capability Gap this was all first reported on by usn.org who interviewed Marines about their new tactics and US Marine Corporal Hollis Ballinger said quote the MMX can fill a pretty good gap for us in terms of doing ground reconnaissance but there are limitations that need to be addressed it’s noted that the bike stops working after only 20 minutes in especially harsh terrain sometimes gaining stealth means there are trade-offs in terms of off-roading performance in addition to that the bike’s batteries used are heavy much heavier than an equal poers worth of diesel that weight trade-off means less gear can be carried to make room for extra batteries recharging is a major issue they don’t exactly have eco-friendly recharging stations in war zones recharging takes significantly longer than traditional refilling operations which makes you a sitting d they’re also more subject to environmental factors Extremes in temperatures for instance can cause these batteries to fail quicker currently solar panels are available and have been used by Special Forces groups for recharging but it comes at a number of limitations such as daytime and weather restrictions slow recharge time and the fact that it requires you to stand out in the open for extended periods of time with full Sky visibility not great if you’re trying to stay undetected the future of motorcycles in the US military has entered a level of conventional use that we haven’t seen since World War II as tactics and training become standardized it wouldn’t be outlandish to expect that they become a more common site as the Department of Defense attempts to increase mobility of its light Infantry