The Hellhound is a s six-passenger Hellhound Light Reconnaissance Vehicle produced by Northrop Grumman. The vehicle was designed from the ground up with the crew and mission in mind so that it could be used by light infantry, border police, National Guard or first responders. This particular variant is designed for the US Army’s light reconnaissance vehicle acquisition program, something the service says it’s serious about acquiring in the near term as part of its Combat Vehicle Modernization Strategy.
The Northrop Grumman’s Hellhound can generate electrical power for radios, sensors or other devices. For example, it can produces five times more electriciy than a M2 Bradley. Northrop is using a modular energy system in the vehicle from German company JENOPTIK, which produces systems capable of generating 120 kilowatts of “exportable, stable power. This capability makes laser weapons possible, and Northrop Grumman is already designing a 10 kW solid-state fiber laser weapon capable of shooting small UAVs. That’s enough power to run the LN270 nav system and other vehicle’s sensors, including a visible-light camera that can spot objects some 800 meters away, and an infrared sensor effective out to 10,000 meters.
The Hellhound has a weight of 6.5 ton, a rear engine and can carry up to six equipped soldiers, including the driver. The vehicle mounts a 30 mm ATK M230LF cannon on a EOS Technologies R-400 remote weapon station. The weapon “provides light vehicles with unprecedented access to firepower normally reserved for much heavier vehicles. Heavy protection has been sacrified in order to keep the Hellhound light enough to be carried by air, in platforms such as the CH-47 Chinook.
