Nikola Motor Company, which is part of the Nikola Corporation, has unveiled its Reckless Utility Task Vehicle for U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton (major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps).
The company on 7 February unveiled special variant of all-electric Utility Task Vehicle (UTV ) designed to perform a range of single-role missions – for example, seize an airfield and do reconnaissance missions during a military expo showcasing new warfighting technology for U.S. Marines.
The Reckless UTV, a totally electric vehicle that can go from 0 to 100 kilometers-per-hour in just over 3 seconds. Also, a vehicle can be equipped with remote weapon stations (RWSs) to serve in combat operation roles. The project envisions configuration vehicle with a 7.62mm machine gun, 12.7 mm gun, 40 mm MK19 automatic grenade launcher or Javelin anti-tank guided missiles.
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According to the usmclife.com, the concept Nikola Reckless UTV was named after Staff Sgt. Reckless, a small mare that during one day in the Korean War Battle for Outpost Vegas in March 1953 made 51 trips carrying ammunition to the front lines and transporting wounded Marines back.
The Reckless UTV based on Nikola NZT battery-electric side-by-side off-roader. The company has invested $500,000 to produce four prototypes. Each vehicle would cost $85,000.
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“It is a workhorse with a never-quit attitude,” said Andy Christian, Nikola’s director of defence. “Its unique massive battery allows you to take energy from it and power anything, even a command center. It has an infra-red beam that can be used with night vision and a remote weapons system machine gun that can be controlled by a joystick anywhere in the vehicle. It’s light enough to go on a MV-22 osprey.”
