Military

M1043 HMMWV Armament Carrier w/ Supplemental Armor

The M1043, M1043A1, and M1043A2 were Armament Carrier configurations of the HMMWV family. The M1043, M1043A1, M1043A2 armament carriers featured supplemental armor that provided added ballistic protection for armament components, crew, and ammunition over the M1025/M1026 series of armament carriers. The vehicles were equipped with a weapon mount, located on the roof of the vehicle, capable of mounting the M60 or M240, 7.62mm machine guns, M2 .50 caliber machine gun, or the Mk 19 Mod 3 Grenade Launcher. The weapons platform could be traversed 360 degrees. The supplemental armored vehicles provided immediate, mobile, suppressive and destructive fires in support of the maneuver unit commander.

Fully-loaded M1043, M1043A1, and M1043A2 armament carriers could climb road grades as steep as 60 percent (31 degrees) and traverse a side slope of up to 40 percent (22 degrees). The vehicles ford hard bottom water crossings up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) without a deep-water fording kit and 60 inches (152 centimeters) with the kit.

An improved variant with the A1 series modifications was also produced. The difference between the M1043 and M1043A1 armament carriers and M1044 and M1044A1 armament carriers was that the M1043/A1s did not have self-recovery winches and the M1044/A1s did. M1043A2 could be fitted with a self-recovery winch, which also negated the need for a separate M1044A2 variant. The M1043A2 armored variant was intended to replace the M1043/A1 and M1044/A1 variants. The M1043A2 models had new bumpers, in addition to the other A2 series improvements, which made the vehicles slightly longer.