Boeing is developing a light army truck

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Boeing is developing an ultra-light weight truck: the Phantom Badger.

According to Breaking Defense the Phantom Badger vehicle looks a little out of place alongside other products of Boeing’s famous Phantom Works division.

Even General Dynamics, the other traditional defense contractor in the race, found a small-business partner whose existing Flyer vehicle is the basis for its ULCV entry.

Boeing has a small-biz teammate as well, North Carolina’s MSI, best known for its work with NASCAR and off road racing. But Boeing came up with the design. In fact, the Badger was born when undisclosed elements of Special Operations Command specifically sought out Phantom Works to design a vehicle that could fit inside the V-22 — which (perhaps not coincidentally) Boeing helps build.

Boeing’s Phantom Badger can fit inside a V-22 tilt-rotor.

Phantom Badger will require some modification to meet one of the requirements that have been already fixed: a of 4,500 pounds. Despite its weight, the Badger is actually one of the slimmest competitors.

The Army only requires the ULCV to fit inside a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, but Badger was designed in the first place to fit in the much tighter quarters of a V-22 Osprey Tilt-Rotor.

The price paid to fit on the V-22, however, is a much narrower vehicle: a maximum of 60 inches wide. (By contrast, General Dynamics’s ULCV offering is the Flyer-72, a foot wider). Does that long, thin body increase the risk of rollover?