Interim Fast Attack Vehicle

[
Mercedes Interim FAST ATTACK VEHICLE (IFAV) along the North Field, on Tinian Island, in support of Exercise TANDEM THRUST 2003.] Interim Fast Attack Vehicles (IFAV) are deployed and used by the United States Marine Force Recon. Force Recon used to operate a fleet of Desert Patrol Vehicles (formerly known as Fast Attack Vehicles or FAVs for short), popularized by the Navy SEALs as the "black dune buggy". However, this vehicle lacked cargo capacity and firepower, so Force Recon moved to a militarized Mercedes-Benz G-Class, also known as a G-wagon, 290 GDT diesel 4x4, a much more traditional "Jeep" type truck. The vehicle has only minimal armor, but numerous defensive weapons, including a Mk 19 automatic 40 mm grenade launcher. This vehicle is manufactured by Magna Steyr (Austria) for Mercedes-Benz (Germany).

;USA: The USMC Interim Fast Attack Vehicle (IFAV) is a modified version of the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen 290. It replaces the modified M-151A2 1/4 ton truck (MUTT jeep) used by the Marines as a FAV in the 1990s. The U.S. Marine Corps acquired 157 of the IFAVs distributed as follows:

:(I) Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) Camp Pendleton, CA (33; (II) MEF Camp Lejeune, NC (25); (III) MEF on Okinawa, Japan (27; (IV) 17 Force Recon, Afghanistan (22); (V) 3 Force Recon Bn, Iraq (23); (VI) 1st Provisional DMZ Police Company, Korea (15); and (VII) various miscellaneous (12)

:(II) U.S. Army soldier Marco Benz the great great grandson of Karl Benz was featured in an article with a W463 cabrio owned by Captain James Van Thach. [ [http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/01/prweb321042.htm# Marco Benz Descendant of First Gas Automobile Inventor Karl Benz of Mercedes-Benz Joins the U.S. Army ] ]

References

ee also

*United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance
*Mercedes-Benz G-Class
*HMMWV
*FN Herstal AS 24
*Desert Patrol Vehicle
*FMC XR311
*M151 MUTT
*Ranger Special Operations Vehicle (RSOV)

Extarnal links

* IFAV @ GlobalSecurity.org http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/wolf.htm