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The Pookie MRAP vehicle was created to deal with the constant mining of the roadways during the Rhodesian Bush War.
IED’s, Mines, Route Clearance and Talisman
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Pookie Power! - Defense TechThe Pookie - A History of the World's first successful Landmine Detector CarrierRhodesian Mine Ambush Protected Vehicles 1975-80
{{Rhodesian AFV Military engineering vehicles Vehicles introduced in 1976 Mine warfare countermeasures Military of Rhodesia Weapons of Rhodesia Military vehicles introduced in the 1970s
The Pookie MRAP vehicle was created to deal with the constant mining of the roadways during the Rhodesian Bush War.
Description
The Pookie was a small one-person vehicle named after thebush baby
Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They ar ...
, and fitted with large Formula One tires bought second hand after the South African Grand Prix. The wide tyres prevented the detonation of buried mines by exerting less ground pressure than a human footprint and spanning the mines' circumference. The vehicle was made with readily available parts from the Volkswagen Kombi Kombi may refer to:
* Battle of Kombi, a 1647 battle between Ndongo-Matamba (assisted by the Dutch) and the Portuguese
* '' Kombi'', a Japanese term for a comedy duo
* Kombi (band), a Polish pop rock band
* Kombini, a type of Japanese convenience s ...
and resembles a small go-cart with an elevated cab to protect the driver. The bottom of the cab had a V-shaped reinforced hull to deflect the blast away from the operator. Sensor 'pans', resembling rectangular wings, were lowered and used parallel to the ground below the cab. When the vehicle was transported, the pans were raised at a 45 degree angle.
According to Trevor Davies Engineering, manufacturer of the Pookie, "...of the 76 vehicles built between 1976 and 1980 none ever detonated a mine, though 12 were lost and two drivers were killed." Remotely detonated mines were responsible for the loss of the 12 vehicles and one of the fatalities, though it is not clear if the remaining fatality, caused by an RPG RPG may refer to:
Military
* Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon
**''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...
, also resulted in the loss of vehicle and if that loss was included in the previous count.
In 1999, an unknown number of new Pookies were manufactured by MineTech, a British company specialising in mine countermeasures. The MineTech Pookie was virtually identical to the Rhodesian Pookie, only fitted with a different engine and detailed improvements such as hydraulic steering. It was deployed to Afghanistan and Somalia by private de-mining contractors./ref>
Operators
*: Rhodesian Security Forces *: South African PoliceFootnotes
References
*Laurent Touchard, ''Guerre dans le bush! Les blindés de l’Armée rhodésienne au combat (1964-1979)'', Batailles & Blindés Magazine n.º 72, April–May 2016, pp. 64–75. (in French) *Peter Gerard Locke & Peter David Farquharson Cooke, ''Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80'', P&P Publishing, Wellington 1995. *Peter Stiff, ''Taming the Landmine'', Galago Publishing Pty Ltd., Alberton (South Africa) 1986.External links
Pookie Power! - Defense Tech
{{Rhodesian AFV Military engineering vehicles Vehicles introduced in 1976 Mine warfare countermeasures Military of Rhodesia Weapons of Rhodesia Military vehicles introduced in the 1970s