Why the Warthog Would Actually Be Incredibly Useful in War
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2022
- Nothing is quite as familiar in Halo as the Warthog. The UNSC's primary troop transport is a classic vehicle that defined an entire generation of video games, but would it work in today's military? In this week's video, I explore the inspiration and history of the vehicles that led to the Warthog and what came after as well as how vehicles such as Warthogs could be used today.
Special credit goes to the many public videos and photos used to illustrate different vehicles and life in the US Military.
Halo © Microsoft Corporation
Halo 3 OST © Marty O'Donell Michael Salvatori - Hry
One reason why the Warthog is always seen is cause we are almost always working with Marines. In the Lore the IFVs and APCs are mostly used by the Army units that garrison planets. The expeditionary and spec ops forces (Marines, ODSTs and Spartans) mostly rely on lighter vehicles, since they are bound to ships that have a limited transport capacity.
Except for tanks. They still have tanks.
@@robertharris6092 Tanks aren't for scouting or transport
No, cause lore wise technology wasn't military focused and they didn't need to and got caught off guard when the Covenant attacked.
@@Espartanica they can be uses for those roles
@@MrSwccguy And? Banshees and duct tape could be used for troop transport. Doesn't make it sensible
The lack of a guided missile system on the rocket hog is meant to soft cap the player. If you look closely when driving with a crew the gunner has missiles that track so it is functional but most likely taken out because of multiplayer balancing.
Actually it do have a function target lock in game it just works on air vehicles only from my experience back on the 360
@@kennyburkamp4054 yes but AIs can use it any target
@@kennyburkamp4054 same. And I still play the original halo reach today
@@smokeyredmeadow Campaign?
@@panther7584 yes
Canonically the Warthog actually has armored variants with doors and heavy plating. In fact the base model has spaced titanium armor but the doors are removed.
So I'd say the warthog is a good vehicle for it's role.
lol the armor in Halo 1 was literally only there to protect the warthog and none of the crew
Yeah? And still nothing for the poor gunner, and you damn well know that canonically the UNSC used the no-protection base hogs in large assaults.
Nah the Warthog is not a good vehicle for its role as a light expeditionary vehicle. Compare the warthog with the US JLTV, the Army's replacement for the humvee. It doesn't hold up at all.
@@Redditor6079 if we would compare the Warthog to the JLTV lorewise, both are approximately 6meters, with Warthog being slightly larger widht wise going at 3meters, and the basic variant without guns or armors weighing only 3 metric tons which is alot better than the JLTV, JLTV can hold more personnel (4+gunner) while Warthog if its not the Transport configuration only holds 2+gunner, but you have to remember those 3 people in the Warthog in Halo universe would most likely be Spartans or ODSTs so the effectiveness of that unit is not a worry, Warthog also is slightly faster than the JLTV going from 70 in JLTV to 78mph in Warthog, and with the array of weapons from the heavy machineguns that can easily shred through even the covenant in lore, to both grenade launchers and rocket launchers, Gauss cannon that can melt any light to medium target in 1 one shot easily, flamethrower to deal with the flood from the Halo universe, and so on so i think the Marines in Halo universe are alright with the Warthog as the scouting/transportation for those quick missions
You see them in halo wars 1 in a cutscene, and in halo wars 2
the unsc actually does have apc
they are in halo wars and are called mastodon
Cougars are also canon, even if they were cut from Halo Wars.
I also point at Elephants
@@g1jetfireandrainbowdash798 don't know if the Elephants would be considered APCs. They're too large and slow to really work as one.
Honestly I'm not really sure what the Elephant's actual purpose was. It seems like it was just for hauling equipment rather than anything combat related.
Edit: After some research, it seems the Elephant is supposed to be both a mobile base and some sort of siege platform, much like Halo 4's Mammoth
@@ClonedGamer001 recovery vehicle, maintenance or field medical vehicle would fit for the elephant.
The multi-player is not cannon for all leaders except yap yap and colony
UNSC vehicles are designed with a focus on speed over armor. My head canon on this was always that Covenant weaponry hits so hard that armor would be prohibitively slow, so they just said "fuck it, speed is life."
Especially considering shit like the fact a Wraith's plasma bolt has a 20 metre blast radius. I'd want to Sonic my ass out of there as well
I thought their speed was because of the sheer scale they operate on.
thats actually exactly true
atleast in the books
game difficulty is another thing
but to put it into perspective
a bunch of marines were escaping in a sewer pipe with the chief right behind them
they were being chased by a wraith (big alien mortar tank)
they were WELL into the pipe and the wraith fired a shot that landed just outside the pipe
the heat and shock wave alone was enough knock chief on his ass iirc
and burned the rest of the marines alive despite chief and his shields taking the blunt of it
another problem with facing down plasma weaponry without energy shields (and even then eshields alone arent enough to save you)
is that the shots are sticky in a way
if a plasma round nails your shoulder pad
assuming your shoulder isnt just gone
that plasma round is going to transfer its heat into the armor
and its just going to keep melting till it reaches ambient temp
which means you are going to get some pretty bad injuries if you are hit even with armor
Probably cause the covvies tend to have air superiority over the UNSC. Whats a heavily armored APC gonna do when it gets hit by plasma fire from a banshee? It'll end up melting and/or cooking the crew inside of it.
They probably tried to use heavier armor in those first battles against the covenant at the start of the war. By the end of the war they had long since decided that faster vehicles were more advantageous. Hence why your seeing full-blown offensives headed by warthogs and a handful of fast tanks by the end of the war.
I would suggest also taking a look at the vehicles of Halo Wars 1 and 2 and the Expanded Universe since there's some interesting stuff there like the M99 Stanchion which can turn personal and light vehicles into paste even when they are hiding behind 3 apartment blocks.
or the cobra
which can do the same
to the target AND the apartment blocks lmao
still cant believe the crap they replaced that beautiful machine with in wars 2
@@tylerherr4288 The inlore explanation for why the Cobra doesn't appear in HW2 is because the UNSC ended up taking its turret and mounted it onto the base defenses as an anti-vehicle turret.
@@Spartan_Tanner i thought it was phased out due to the proto type plans sabrena "borrowed" before they left arcadia
doesnt matter in my case though because the kodiak is still ugly as hell compared to the cobra
@@tylerherr4288 Yeah, the Cobra always stood out because of how it looks and how it functions. the Kodiak is just a Self Propelled Artillery Cannon
@@Spartan_Tanner that's so ass backwards now the "cobra" is completely immobile.
The Warthog is a Technical IMO. It relies on speed and concepts of maneuver warfare rather then armor. It's modern Calvary, designed to attack unprepared forces with speed and mass numbers for hit and runs as well as assaults on lightly defended positions.
Makes sense considering trying to fight the Covenant through drawn-out fights tends to hurt the UNSC in most cases.
That's why Gorilla like tactics tended to be more favored and effective.
Quick hits with speed, powerful weaponry, and in mass can make for good and decisive victories against oncoming enemy forces.
Something the Warthog excels at. Most heavier vehicles that are on the the slower scale tend not to last long due to the power and heat of plasma.
But throw in a few quick Warthogs that plasma has trouble catching up too and it makes the fight more difficult for the Covenant.
It has design cues for it’s facade from humvees, but it’s body layout is very much akin to a Hilux technical
Too bad they can't put a Toyota logo on it then.
It should be noted the warthogs chaingun is an antiair gun. Realisticly it prob links up with the marines/spartans visor and allows for a lead indicator.
I just thought the UNSC was using what they had on hand, while fighting a losing war. At least that's how it struck me when playing Halo 3 driving a four wheeler while fighting a scarab.
that was one reason iirc
grade A titanium was rare
especially after losing reach
so rare in fact that they tore every bit of it out of a spartan 2 that just wanted to quit and start a family
(though that was very likely out of spite)
@@tylerherr4288 Thanks! I haven't really gotten into the lore of halo past the games yet, but I'll spend some time on it.
It’s worth mentioning that against an enemy like the covenant who makes use of very slow, heavy vehicles with slow moving projectiles the warthog could be a legitimate danger BECAUSE of how light it is.
There was a war in Africa where one side was equipped with Soviet era armored vehicles and the other side primarily used Toyota Hiluxes. Essentially just a civilian pickup and they bolted whatever weapons they had on hand to the bed. Despite that they smoked the Soviet armor consistently because they were small targets that were hard to acquire and they could usually get kill shots faster than the tanks could. Granted the moment air power entered the equation those Hiluxes didn’t last long.
Regardless think about the setup of covenant vehicles. You have the Wraith which is a slow, heavy mortar tank with a fixed turret that fires a slow projectile. That’s easy as hell to run rings around. The Scarab is much the same, albeit way tougher. Even their warthog equivalent vehicles (the ghost, the spectre and the revenant) aren’t as mobile. They can only reach their top speed by disabling their weapons and even then warthogs can still outrun them. It’s a surprisingly practical design that much like the Toyotas are dirt cheap and so easy to maintain a chimp could be trained to do it.
The books would also mention how covenant weapons would punch through UNSC armour fairly easily, so there wasn't much point armouring anything lighter than a main battle tank and it was better to focus on speed to avoid the hits
@@my9thaccount140 The vehicles are only slow with slow moving projectiles in the games. The actual lore is a whole other story
Amazing video. I came into this expecting a "yeah it's not realistic but what can you do it wouldn't be fun in multiplayer for players on foot to not have a fighting chance against a warthog"
i think the marines using the warthog also makes sense for the same reasons as odsts. We've got to remember we are fighting alongside marines for every game but reach, and the marines are usually stationed onboard smaller battleships suggesting they are deployed first before your main army backline of carriers move up
Just gonna ignore the ridiculous amount of grip strength is would have to hold onto the gun while moving at about 70 mph
Accelerating maybe but once you're up to speed it's just the same as being stood on a bus?
@@jakebatty530 im more worried about the bumby ride while standing. Unless the turret has a mag lock for your boots or a harness they can quiclky mount to their belt your gonna fly and fall if you aint secured properly.
@@Spaceman0720 True however most UNSC personal have mandatory augmentations so stuff like a range finder would be inside your eyes and assisted by goggles or augmented reality type gear
@@PackHunter117 dude even if you have augmentations to stay standing straight in a bumby ride physics aint gonna give a shite, you still gonna fly and tumble in the turret unless you got a harness or mag boots to keep you in place. Also when did rangerinders and augmented reality gear become part of the topic? Im talking about the warthog not personal infantry gear thats a different topic imo
Speaking of more heavily armored troop carriers - for that niche, I feel like the Razorback in Halo Infinite fills that niche better, but it has its fair share of problems: for one, it still has no doors, and the back seats are entirely exposed. But the armor on the hood and windshield are much more effective.
Sitting in the back of the razorback is suicide in multiplayer 😭
There do exist doors for the warthog and likely the razorback too, but they can be taken off and are likely off for gameplay reasons
To expand on the topic of the video: The M12 Warthog and M15 Razorback are a type of vehicle that served a wide variety of Roles much like the M38 Willys MB, the M151 Mutt and the Humvee family.
In Lore the reasons why the Warthog was the one vehicle we saw the most was due to the ships cargo capacity and the fact that we never had even the slightest of glimpse at the UNSC Army; the only UNSC Branches we see the most even in Halo Wars are the Navy and Marines.
The Warthog and Razorback in my eyes can and would serve roles that even most MRAPs couldn't achieve due to the bed size and and the ability to navigate Rough Terrain with ease. easily if not for its Combative roles they can be used for Logistical means and other non combative roles. though it would be fun to have the APC variants and Improvised Variants of the Warthog.
Most of the issues from the two vehicles in question come down too the problem we had with the Consoles and their limitations hence why we never saw vehicles from Halo Wars appear in Halo Reach or Halo 4; also vehicles like the M478 Oryx IFV and m349D Bison APC were Made After the first 3 halo games and by Fans for approval by 343.
The Army i s in Reach, with Marines only in like 2 specific parts of the game. But the only thing we see out of the Army is the Falcon, so. I getcha
@@ryan_1099 The MA37, the DMR, and grenade launcher are also things the Army used often
@@ryan_1099 yeah but we also only see the parts of the unsc army used to support the spartans in the few battles we see, as a majority of the forces for the unsc army were focused on civilian and military evacuation including the defence of the outer skirts of cities and space elevators. We dont get to see this in new alexandria due to the army not scrambling fast enough as the invasion of reach was a suprise one
UNSC Army branches are seen in Halo Reach.
In halo infinite we get the mentioned up armored troop transport in the shape of the razorback. One possible reason the UNSC continues to use the warthog against the covenant is because in the books plasma can tear through armor with ease and would very quickly melt through a slow armored personnel carrier like the MRAP or LATV, but the warthog is very fast and agile and can easily outmaneuver and dodge the covenants plasma bolts as easily as those bolts would tear through a slow APC, all while carrying a very respectable amount of firepower
I agree completely. The Warthog is most suited for special operations forces to use and recon purposes. Its essentially a trophy truck with a GAU-19/B attached to it (yes, this is a legitimate, real-world weapon that exists and you're welcome). The only thing they would need to do is keep the noise output to a minimum and bingo. I'd love to see the warthog actually become a staple vehicle in the US military.
Who would win, Master Chief or 12,000 sharks?
Chief only because he's a cool guy and eh not afraid of anything
Chuck Norris.
One thing that usually gets overlooked with Halo vehicles is that they need to be able to function in planetary environments with varying amounts of gravity etc. It would make sense to use relatively light vehicles as a base and add weight as desired
The Singapore Armed Forces has been using the Light Strike Vehicle in a recce role with limited anti-armour capabilities since the late 1990s. The current iteration, the LSV Mk II (introduced in 2013), is pretty much *exactly* a Warthog.
Take a good look at the warthog, & really think about it. It's a technical. It's the unsc's take on a Toyota with a gun in the bed. Up armored cause they can afford it. And standardized for logistics reasons. We literally spend half the halo games wandering around in a space technical.
The Toyota war is a pretty good example of how effective an un armoured pickup truck with a big gun on the back can be. Especially when used with guerilla tactics which the humans are using quite alot in the Halo universe again'st the larger enemy
I've always thought the Warthog was an impressive platform considering it could carry up to 3 Spartans in 2 tons of Mjolnir armor without a discernible change in performance. Can you think of a vehicle today that can be loaded up with 6000 pounds of weight and still knock a rough terrain rally race out of the park?
3 Spartans would actually only be a Ton and a Half. A Spartan II in Mjolnir Gen 1 weighs 1000 lbs.
Is the warthog realistic? Considering that it exist in the real world as a functional vehicle.... i would say yes.
And if you look at the new special warfare recon vehicles currently being fielded by the US military, they do look like the warthog. So yes.
In other words you didn't watch the video
@@Espartanica i did watch the video, i just wrote the comment before i finished the video. He basically said the same thing i did.
@@colhubbard9348 So then yes, you didn't watch the video before commenting
@@Espartanica the title was asking an obvious question. He answered. It’s not a big deal
@@201hastings Yeah, but here's the thing: The video asked the question, and answered it. Thus this comment has no bearing on the video.
1:19 Something to keep in mind here:
In Halo Reach, the mission right before Tip Of The Spear is Nightfall. In Nightfall right at the end of the mission Jun and 6 discover the objectives you have to take on Tip Of The Spear, and Jun mentions something along the lines of:
"We should head back, sun will be up in a few hours."
And in Tip Of The Spear i think it is Dot (Noble's A.I.) who mentions that this is a risky and rushed operation.
TL;DR/Conclusion: The U.N.S.C. had like 4 hours to plan the operation and most importantly... In those 4 hours they took every vehicle they found, those being, some Scorpion Tanks, a shlt ton of Warthogs, and 1 random Mongoose that is seen on the cutscene.
This was a fun watch! Do you think you could do another comparison video like this with the UNSC’s in-atmosphere aerial vehicles like the Hornet, Wasp and or Falcon?
my vision on why the unsc arsenal was so limited and so light weight is that it wasn't in the beginning, but as the war started and it became clear that heavy armour meant nothing when hit with a massive load of superheated plasma the focus swiftly shifted to speed and manouvrability,
luckily for the UNSC the marines would allready focus heavily on lighter faster vehicles, the army on the other hand would no doubt need to adapt, as for the lack of an army it makes sense that as they were forced to fight like marines it made more sense to simply make them all marines in name as well
I love the Warthog so much, but the UNSC uses the Warthog so poorly. They use it like a Humvee but it's design, though kinda similar, is not up to the task. It's supposed to be the most common vehicle in the UNSC, but in a realistic UNSC setting it wouldn't be. I still see it being used in the UNSC, but it would be rare as hell. Light recon, not the bulk of the ground forces.
Its design for rapid development. Given the UNSC has to cover ground quickly from planet to planet, star system to star system. It happen to fit the role perfectly when fighting the Covenant due to their use of slower plasma bolts.
@@tristanbackup2536 That's partly true, but not entirely. The Warthog as I remember firstly designed to be a lunar lander of sorts but was overall a beast at off roading so next thing ya know the UNSC started buying it for obvious reasons There is way more to having a mobile military than only highly exposed jeeps, no matter what turret you throw onto it or that it's kinda fast. Also, when it came fighting the Covenant, the UNSC seems to try to overwhelm the Covenant with lots of Warthogs, though this tactic is for several reasons dumb and a MASSIVE waste of money and material.
Firstly, the design itself makes it poor to use as a common ground vehicle for reasons stated in the video, and most importantly, even if it was a good vehicle to have been super common and all the flaws fixed, then comes in the next massive issue. You can't outproduce and outgun the Covenant. Almost every battle the UNSC is outnumbered 10 to 1, you can't throw waves of stuff at an enemy that can throw an ocean at you.
It's not a perfect role because the UNSC uses it for pretty much every role besides what it's best at. Light recon, being fast and having a low profile. Direct heavy engagements are the literal worst-case situation for it.
The Guass Hog would be so much fucking fun to shoot shit with
To me it also makes sense to use a somewhat exposed frame since the UNSC is fighting an opponent that uses plasma weaponry. Slow but hot projectiles that will melt armor. If you had them covered in armored plates, any plasma hits will splash and melt onto the occupants. That also adds more possibilities of fires breaking out or ammo explosions. When dealing with that kind of firepower from the Covenant, I'd honestly want to be able to get away quick from any vehicles, something that happens in the game a lot as you can just get in or get out very fast. I think the design of the Warthog is perfect for the kind of war the UNSC was fighting.
My country has this thing called the Light Strike Vehicle Mk ii, it’s used by special forces and looks and functions extremely similarly to a Halo Warthog
I always thought that while yes it was inspired by the Humvee, it is treated more like the Long Range Patrol Vehicles of the Australian, New Zealand and British SAS. Where the military and the US SF, use vehicles for 4+ troops, the LRPV is a 3 person vehicle. A driver, passenger (Vehicle commander) and rear gunner.
The UNSC and ONI are headquartered in Sydney
@@PackHunter117 I know
You guys must check out the Light Strike Vehicle used by the Singapore Armed Forces. It's pretty much the real-world version of the warthog and looks the part too. It's typically fielded for reconnaissance and hit and run missions.
Really good video, love the nods to both real life and in game-utility and development.
I think the ideas about the Humvee being deprecated in favor of heavier light armor actually works well in the Halo universe. While a heavier armored APC might be better, remember that until the Sangheili defected, the UNSC was fighting a defensive war, and were using tactics closer to insurgency. To that end, it makes sense for the UNSC to use an extra-light vehicle; instead of taking on Covenant forces who frankly had better tech, it was more reliable to use SpecOps techniques - get in, hit a target, achieve an objective, get out and let the Navy shell the place with MAC rounds from orbit.
One big difference about the warthog and real life might be due to gameplay. The ability to bring a mounted .50 cal or AGL is really a big game changer. The warthog's MG, however, seems to take forever to kill an elite whereas irl, elite became minced meat
Another reason the Warthog never changes is cuz it’s fuckin sick
If we were to make a warthog in the future to fight off enemies, it would be a great mass produced vehicle. Quick and easy
Want to clarify that Hummers where always broken and had almost no reliability, especially when they added all that armor to them.
The transmissions in those things where just waiting to shear.
That's because all the add on armour damaged the chassis.
They were using the vehicle for a role it was never designed to do.
It was a transport vehicle. Not designed to be a tactical one.
add the gas guzzling issue
@@ItsDaKoolaidDude
It's illegal for the U.S military to put the words "Fuel" and "Efficiency" in the same sentence.
I believe lore wise the Warthog was a recon/general transport vehicle that was pressed into frontline service simply because of the threat faced. It is the IRL equivalent of a technical mixed with escort destroyer mentality. Not meant to be in the thick but just how it ended up because of the nature of the war. Plus orbital insertion of anything bigger starts to get unfeasible.
The official designation for the warthog is the M12 LRV LRV standing for Light Reconnaissance Vehicle.
@@oneplayer4805the manual for Halo 2 actually mentions this, if you got the Covenant variant of the Manual when they talk about UNSC Weapons they mention that they're effective although primitive.
Its a really good technical.
Fast, light but existing armor, usable in any environment, easy to maintain, easy to operate, self-fueling and surprisingly cheap to manufacture.
If civilian Toyota pickup trucks with a poorly mounted weapon can be used effectively as a wartime vehicle, I think the Warthog can too.
great video excellent understanding of the concepts involved great job
it's great to know that the warthog could work even in modern day warfare
The warthog looks to be originaly designed as a mobile gun platform, basically allowing groups of marines to have heavy weapons while still being mobile. Also you forgot 2 variants of the warthog, the scout variant which removes the gun, and the transport variant which replaces the gun with a roll cage type thing with seats for troops.
The JLTV was an absolute game changer it was faster, better armored, and more task and purpose explained about when he once had his doubts about now is actually pretty darn impressed I mean their adding drones, 10-15kw lasers, 25mm chain guns, .50 cal triple barrel mini guns, RWS controlled machine guns, etc it's an absolute beast of a machine now keep in mind remote controlled weapons on top of vehicles isn't gonna fully replace regular man gunner positions and stuff their some pros to it such as being less cost, more eye ball visibility, etc
Glad i stumbled upon this channel! subbed!
The Warthog is more like the classic Willies Jeep with an exposed turret on the back. Driver, passenger, gunner, no armor, often no doors.
Keep in mind that the human-covenant war lasted 27 years. I don't think it's far fetched to assume that those first battles probably saw heavier armor that ended up getting more people killed because of the speed for protection trade off (assuming we would still be using very heavy and slow armor in 500 years). Reach is the second to last planet humanity had, after Reach fell we only had Earth, so after 26 years of fighting the UNSC probably moved onto the tactics of lightly armored but fast vehicles to blitz the enemy and try to prevent as many casualties as possible. In the games, the best way to avoid serious damage from a wraith or a banshee is to not hold still long enough for that plasma to hit you, and in the games your also genetically enhanced super soldier with energy shields and very expensive armor.
Wait, but consider the following: home boys driving old Toyotas with an MG bolted on the bed are being used in urban ops today. They're called "technicals". Some Toyotas have AA guns and some have anti tank guns just duct taped on top of it, giving occupying forces trouble. And consider this, some are just light enough that they either don't trip the mines or are already gone before it detonated. Some of the US forces used them as recently as 2019.
Prediction: Toyota will eventually manufacture the Warthog, just under a different company name.
The warthog’s seating is actually very big! A seven+ foot tall Spartan sits in one quite comfortably, but it is honestly straining practicality for an ordinary human driver!
I think biggest reason why the warthog doesn't have doors/armor comes down to aesthetics and the animation capacities of the time. Most games of that era that have vehicles simply have your avatar teleport inside where as the halo team wanted everything animated properly as it transitions to 3rd person.
It's the same reason why all the Marines on your lifeboat die when you first hit halo. They were supposed to live but they couldn't animate them getting in and out of the seats in a realistic matter so decided to just have them die instead.
Light cavalry to conduct scouting or raids on is always useful. But the warthog easily becomes heavy cavalry when multiplied and the Gauss and rocket hog are brutal
Dont forget that during the 80s and into the very early years of the war on Iraq, the military also had Chenowth Racing built buggies, call the Fast Attack Vehicle or FAV. These were Baja 1000 race spec that had no armor but had light machine gun, M2HB .50 call machine guns, T.O.W launcher. Mostly used for recon and SpecOps. Could have 2 or 3 seater, with the 3rd being a higher mount machine gun or T.O.W launcher.
While this isn't touched on in the video, I would have also noted that the warthog takes a bit also from, ironically, insurgences in the real world, via the form of the "Technical" pick up trucks, which as basic civilian style jeeps, pick up trucks, and other fast paced vehicles, with simple swivel mount points for various weapons system,s such as HMGs, Bazooka's, Recoilless Rifles, and even dumb fired rocket pods, very similar to the Rocket Hogs we see in game.
Great videos, I like your stuff, subscribbled.
keep up the great content bro :)
Personally I think the reason the warthog saw so much combat and took positions in the front of battles was because of it's speed just because plasma would just melt through anything
And pre human covenant war it seems to still be decently functional as a recon vehicle although I do hate that the UNSC never considered an APC like variant of the warthog just because of human weapons
In the halo universe, I can see them adapting the spartan shields to select areas of Special Forces branded M12 LAVs for increased survivability in more prolonged H&R battles.
Bad comparisons in my opinion.
I feel like games show the Warhog like the insurgent Toyotas.
Sure unsc has some western influence and style but then you see the games and it's just a pickup with a gun
It is also sold to civillians as an off road vehicle so your kinda right on the hogs being technicals. I wouldnt be surpired if they started arming spades later on, a vehicle used by farmers, colonists, and transporting industrial materials.
You make a super solid point. A lot of people kind of forget that UNSC marines aren't like USMC soldiers, they serve as a sort of midpoint between typical corpsman and special forces, with ODSTs acting as airborne spec ops, and Spartans being SEALs if SEALs wore a tank as armor.
And the warthog has a stupidly tight turn radius with both axels turning semi-indapendently.
While I can understand the idea that they were inspired by the unarmored humvee, the warthog wasn't a humvee, it was a military technical. It has far more in common with the technical trucks used by African and middle eastern forces.
I feel like the hog is more what id see the US building after seeing how much more effective Hilux's with mounted guns were than humvees
Considering an actual war was won using pickup trucks with guns on the back against a superior military, I would say they're definitely useful and realistic.
I have semi fond memories of the HUM-V. I only saw them break once. They were guaranteed to run 1000 miles under any conditions and had a double wishbone suspension. The lack of armor was a HUGE oversight though.
it wasnt an oversight it was intentional. in a coldwar gone hot scenario anything the soviets fielded that could kill an unarmoured humvee would just as easily kill an armoured humvee going 10 miles slower(heavy caliber machine guns, man portables, autocannons, atguns, etc). the humvee was designed to zoom near the frontlines(which nato assumed could be very quickly overwhelmed) and then dismount. if you wanted something to attack with youd bring in the apcs such as m113(which would just get you to combat before bugging out) or if it was late cold war ifvs such as bradley(which would actually stay and fight).
I was literally thinking if I wanted to make a replica warthog, I would probably use a Humvee as a donor vehicle. It's already got most of the right stuff.
I like how they stripped everything on the humvee but then it just turned back into a armored car
The main problem i have with the warthog is that its used in situations where a armored vehicle should be used
in lore it’s described as a scout vehicle yet its used as an armored personnel carrier infantry fighting vehicle and sometimes a tank
The unsc would have better odds if they made a armored personnel carrier
Halo Wars 2 has the M650 Mastodon, and there was going to be an APC in reach that was referred to as “Wolverine” or “Kodiak” during different stages of development before it was scrapped. I can’t really think of a good reason for why these didn’t show up sooner in the franchise other than “Yeah, it uhh… would completely fuck up the game balance” because we all know how broken it would be to carry your friends around in a vehicle with full 360-degree protection unless you friggin’ neutered it by making it out of cardboard.
You're forgetting in most of the games you are basically stranded without the full support of the UNSC. In Halo 1 you're with the Pillar of Autumn which got Scuttled and you're using whatever didnt get destroyed on the Ring. Halo 2, you're on Delta Halo with the limited support of One small frigate that later gets destroyed. In Halo 3 you could argue that we have APC's on Earth but most likely given how dug in the Covenant are most of what we have is wrecked or being used elsewhere. Meanwhile Warthogs are cheap have been in service for centuries and we have tons of em. Would've liked to see the Elephant from Halo 3 get some use in Campaign though that thing is sick. Mobile FOB's like that could've made wars in Halo Infinite a lot of fun. Roll up on a Banished encampment with that thing and unleash the UNSC on em
Excellent military history synopsis in conjunction with the comparison to the WartHog.
There's a guy on CZcams that built a working warthog. They're not small.
Halo Fan Builds A Real Life Warthog | RIDICULOUS RIDES
The dudes at hoonigan built one... Obvi without any kind of weapons, but as a working example it's pretty radical.
Halo Wars in my opinion gave the best show of what the warthog was meant to be used as scout vehicles for recon and hit and run tactics
The U.S. actually does have stuff that fills a similar role as the bmp. The M2 Bradley.
Fun fact if you remember the 2000 reveal trailer of Halo for E3, it had more armor for the gunner.
I just realised something, the UNSC might have only used Warthogs instead of maybe a more armoured transport due to budget constraint.
Humanity was quite literally losing the war at the time, they were out numbered by a wide margin and inferior in terms of technology in contrast to the covenant. So it kinda makes sense why they would mass manufacture cheaper and more light armoured vehicles, especially with most of the expenses going towards the Spartan program and ODST training.
Even with all the no doors no much armor protection for the passengers, it’s still super practical for small group elite special forces, may not be the best choice for average defense focused military, but for those special operations it’s the best equipment you can get
At this point the warthog more closely resembles in form and function the real world technical ( pickups with turrets emplaced in the bed of the truck.
"In the real world you aren't gonna just launch rockets willy nilly" *sweats in Russian*
The Rocket Hog can lock on to air vehicles.
The BMP and co. are actually Infantry Fighting Vehicles, very different from APCs since IFVs are meant to stay in combat after dropping troops off unlike APCs which are supposed to just dip out.
You guys can also check out the Singapore Light strike vehicle, very similar.
It’s basically a raptor with its suspension and jumping capabilities with the gun power of a hummer.
The warthog is a fast technical weapons platform. Going fast is very important, having a gun no man can carry takes advantage of the vehicle
It ironic how the humv became more of a detriment because of insergancy tactics but the warthog was originally used to fight inserectionist which used incergancy tactics
UNSC Does have APCs they’re mostly used by planetary defense forces. They’re actually designed so the troops inside can fire all sorts of weapons from within.
When used by Spartans, the warthog does have armor.
It's just attached directly to the passengers.
I think it's also worth pointing out the similarities between the Warthog and 'technicals' that were soo effective in the humorously named "Toyota war".
The US currently fields armored brigades with ifvs, stryker brigades with armed and armored wheeled fighting vehicles and infantry brigades which use soft skinned transports or helicopters.
The Warthog is a light reconnaissance vehicle and is probably used it the front lines due to the price
The primary complaint about the Warthog is the lack of armor. That isn't the primary issue. I'm US army infantry, and we have these new vehicles called ISV's that have basically no armor. The problem with the Warthog is the troop carrying capacity, and the inability to carry any kind of equipment load. The ISV carries 9 soldiers and has space to carry all of their equipment. Also, you would never ride an ISV into combat. Again, it has no armor. Similar to the humvee, it was never built to fight in. It's designed to move troops around quickly and excels at that. If you're going into battle, you need to take an MRAP or an APC/IFV like a Bradley or Stryker. It should be noted that there is a way to configure the ISV to have a guy with a machine gun sticking out the top. So in conclusion, if you reconfigure a Warthog to be a bit bigger and more versatile it's perfectly feasible in real life.
Tbh Warthog can clearly fit more troops than what the game limits it to. There's abundant space in it's bed for that
Would like to point out that the assault scene in halo reach was an act of desperation. That’s not typically with the light reconnaissance vehicle also known as the warthog would be used for.
keep in mind remote controlled weapons on top of vehicles isn't gonna fully replace regular man gunner positions and stuff their some pros to it such as being less cost, more eyeball visibility, still have armor to protect him, etc both RWS and gunner positions will exist together
I hope we can see some Mastadons from Halo Wars 2 as at least set dressing in future Halo games
in lore there are other more armored vehicle and even more armored warthogs. alot of designs(especially during the development of odst and reach) started to take a more practical and modular philosphy and you can see in some of their concepts they even tried to justify how some things that look solid are actually modular(like the assault rifle for example) so there are variants that fit this niche we just dont use them or see them much in the games. kind of like the pelican vs the albatross. served similar functions but one was designed for heavy drops in a box for basically anything and could also be unmaned while the other was designed to be a multipurpose fast troop drop off and light supply loads.
albatross is in halo 2-3 but they are crashed in multiplayer maps like sandtrap.
Former Air Force Security Forces here. We used Humvees for perimeter patrols in Afghanistan. You thought leg room on airlines were terrible?
Still, I loved them.
you should really look into Halo wars veichles as there ARE other heavily armored vehicles that fit that role better then the warthog. the reason we use the warthog in game is specifically because its light, quick, and "cheap" though "cheap" not really having a point ingame but only in lore.
don't forget most of the time these veichles are being transported on space ships and the heaver the veichle is the more it costs to transport so light veichles are more common because of that.
while staging ships like the Sperit of Fire is designed to create a beach head and have/create a full army anywhere so having heavy veichles is a must for that.
there's something you didn't mention: with spartans and ODSTs their personal armour is better than what you could put on the warthog
Warthogs big issue is the complete lack of protection, mostly the insanely vulnerable gunners position. It was made like that for gameplay reasons, which are well worth it, but definitely makes the vehicle flawed
I have to agree, a light recon vehicle with INFINITE ammo and range on a gattling gun is definitely something that any real life marine would want!
Idk man. With how effecyive amd deadly plasma and energy weapons are in the lore I can see the logic of not having slow moving APCs that would really judt get shredded by Covenant weapon fire anyway. A fast moving vehicle that can quickly drop in marines and then zoom around the battlefield while not getting shot is a very good call.
Anyway, the Warthog is honestly such an iconic vehicle.
Cabezon says repeatedly in the video that the Warthog stays the same and no armored variant or replacement appears, but what about the Razorback from Halo Infinite It seems like a lightly armored evolution.
I'm curious what people think about that, but otherwise I enjoyed this video it was a good youtube video 👍😎👍
One thing I thought was pretty bad about the Warthog is imagining all the empty shell casings that rain on the driver and passenger from the main gun.