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

[Taskandpurpose]

Get entered to win this brand new Kawasaki KLR 650s!
DEADLINE to ENTER is 12/10/23 @ 11:59pm (PST)

[teddy.d]

“Elite, mobile biker gangs of Marines”
Sounds horrifying for the enemy. Another excellent and informative video Cappy, well done by you and the team.

[pusheendalimitsofgeneva]

I like how we have just reverted back to using what is basically just a modern version of horsearchery combined with hit and run tactics

[granatmof]

I'm reminded of the 2000 wargame where the retired Marine General ran circles around the modern Military. Among his solutions were like wooden hull boats and using motorcycle runners to carry messages instead of using traceable radios.

[joejohnson]

This is just reinventing the wheel as that was the original concept of light cavalry reconnaissance using horses throughout history .

[falconiusazurius]

I'm happy to hear Zero is making headway with special forces.
When my 2013 Zero S died due to a battery manufacture issue, Zero replaced it with a 2017 DS model (free of charge). This was a huge upgrade. The 2013 had a max range of 80km. It had great acceleration of zero to 100 in about 3 seconds and a top speed of 160km/h. The 2017 version was a bit slower but it could easily do a 180km highway trip. What makes this extra special is that I was living in South Africa at the time.

[GrahamBunneh]

Edit to say: they are MT350 off road bikes - not street cruisers they were riding. Way too many commenters thinking they were riding fat bobs, or low riders 😀

When our local medic unit was issued the then new harley davidsons before going to Bosnia, they stopped using them almost straight away as the first 3 casualties they treated were dispatch riders who'd crashed headfirst into trenches, and the forth was a medic of theirs responding to one of the incidents incident.

[euansmith]

War never changes, eh? Thousands of years after their introduction, light cavalry and mounted infantry continue to fulfill a role on the battlefield.

[kenfowler]

Yes we used them in the “80’s & ‘90’s for route reconnaissance, patrolling, guiding convoys etc. started as little Suzuki DR 250’s and I ended up riding Yamaha 650’s based on their DAKAR bike. Simply brilliant for the Australian Bush!

[nanayawberko]

Shout out to all the insurgents watching

[SteffiReitsch]

That's bizarre that he'd never heard the world bazaar. Most Americans know this word.

[thetimebinder]

As an Aeldari player in Warhammer 40K who makes great use of Shroud Runners and other Jetbikes, I approve of this new Mon Keigh detachment unit.

[greengeck]

Lithuanian Special Forces "Aitvaras" use buggies ATV's and Motorcycles (KTM EXC-R 530 for example) as part of doctrine of hit and run as well as recon for a quite long time now. You can see them in the footage at 9:23 in the video ;D
They were fielded like that in Afganistan as well just not sure if it was already in '02-'04 or after '07

Lithuanian company Elektrociklas are now making the "Perkūnas" (In Lithuanian God of Thunder or just Thunder) designed by our Special forces, as a silent alternative for the bikes fielded already

[heaththeemissary]

Dirtbikes are light for a reason. Those 1200cc "adventure" bikes aside, in an unpredictable terrain there are times when you just have to muscle the bike around. Weight and weight distribution are much what dictates control and safety on a bike.

[SoloRenegade]

this is not a paradigm shift. I've been advocating these tactics for 20yrs now, and especially when I was deployed in Afghanistan. Everyone told me I was wrong, but could provide no valid proof nor counter arguments. Now here we are 20yrs later and people are finally growing a brain.

[KT-kigz]

The light cavalry is making a comeback

[jaggedcashew]

Don't forget about the tactical options of cliff jumping / climbing like the GLA had in CNC Generals.

[MikeBrown]

Didn't those used to be called dragoons, horseback infantry that dismounted to fight?

[dathat]

My brother was a moto messenger in the Marine Corps in the 1980s. He said the best part was not having to salute while riding.

[GeoFry]

Megaforce!

(1982 movie with great motorcycles and even better hairstyles)