M1126

The  is a fire support vehicle featured in Squad. The M1126 is the standard armored personnel carrier (APC) and infantry carrier vehicle (ICV) of the US Army. The M1126 was the first fully armored vehicle introduced to them, and combines good survivability and speed with a decent weapons platform.

General Information
The M1126 is an 8-wheel APC and ICV. It is based on the Swiss Piranha III 8x8. The M1126 was later adopted into the US Army in 2002 as the standard APC and ICV alongside the M113 APC. The M1126 is currently used by the United States and Peru. Chile, Colombia, and Iraq are currently interested in purchasing the vehicle.

The M1126 ICV weighs 18.16 short tons (16.47 t), is 22 ft 10 in (6.95 m) long, 8 ft 11 in (2.72 m) wide, and 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m) tall. The M1126 can be driven by up to a crew of 2 (1 driver and 1 gunner) and can hold 9 passengers. The vehicle has 14.5 mm round-resistant armor, designed to withstand .50 cal attacks and rockets. This M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle model is armed with a .50 cal M2A1 heavy machine gun and powered by a 350 hp Caterpillar C7 engine. There is also a variant of the M1126 that contains a CROWS M240B. It can reach up to a speed of 60 mph (97 km/h).

Gameplay
The M1126 is only used by the US Army.


 * The M1126 is operated by two crewmen, the driver and the gunner. You must have the Kit Role Selection kit equipped to operate the driver or gunner positions. Depending on the variant, the gunner gets access to either the CROWS M2A1 .50 caliber HMG or the M240 CROWS. Both come with smoke grenade launchers. The driver has access to a smoke generator which is used by pressing and holding the Left Mouse Button while the engine is on. The M1126 carries 9 passengers in addition to its two crew members.
 * One of the faster armoured vehicles, with a relatively high top speed and acceleration. Use it to your advantage.
 * Armoured protection is pretty decent. Your frontal and side armour is the strongest you have, weak points are the roof and the rear doors. Jensen's range contains an area with 3D Models of all in-game vehicles, and the relative armour thickness of each area of each vehicle. Study this to learn the strongest and weakest areas of the vehicles in-game.
 * The M2A1 is capable of engaging enemy infantry, lightly armoured vehicles, and other APCs. It carries 400 rounds of ammunition which allows the gunner to fire continuously without reloading until the weapon overheats. The CROWS allows engagement at a considerable range. It has three levels of zoom and ranging marks. You get two "bursts" of smoke grenades for personal defense. To fire the smoke grenades, press "2" on your keyboard to switch away the main gun. Press LMB to fire off the smoke. It can be quite easy to accidentally discharge both your grenade charges at once if you click in a panicked fashion. There is a slight delay between firing and the grenade detonation, so don't assume it isn't working right away. Press "1" to switch back to the main gun.
 * The M240 variant is less powerful than the .50 cal variant, and is not seen alongside the latter. The weaker general-purpose machine gun is incapable of engaging other armored vehicles aside from transport and logistics vehicles, but is still deadly against infantry. Unlike the other US vehicles equipped with the M240, yours is remotely operated so you are not exposed to enemy fire and have a zoom advantage, making you more effective at range. This variant carries 750 rounds of ammunition.
 * You are an Armoured Personnel Carrier. If you see a group of friendlies who need transport, make the offer and take the initiative.

MATCHUPS WITH VEHICLES OF COMPARABLE ROLE ARE AS FOLLOWS:


 * 1) FV432: The FV432 represents a relatively small danger to the M1126. You are faster, more maneuverable, and just slightly less armored. Armament is the same, but you have an advantage in your CROWS .50 Cal; allowing you to spot, acquire, and put rounds on the FV432 much faster and with greater accuracy than the iron sight .50 Cal of the British APC. The FV432 can carry two extra passengers, and does not require a Crewman kit to operate its turret. For the best results, use your greater speed and vision to try and get rounds into the rear of the FV432. It saves ammunition. The FV432 RWS and M240 M1126 cannot hurt each other by any means.
 * 2) MT-LB and MT-LBM: Slow, poorly armoured, loud, and clumsy. The MT-LB and MT-LBM come in several variants, many of which are quite inferior to the M1126 and present little danger to you, though they can all usually carry more people. MT-LBs with PKT MGs present no threat. MT-LBs with NSVT machine guns can technically kill you, but it is extremely difficult as they can only pen the weak parts of your armour and have to dump a lot of rounds into you. Unless your gunner is completely inept, he can usually locate and kill the enemy vehicle pretty quickly. There is a variant of the MT-LBM that carries a KPVT 14.5 mm HMG. This is the first one that can really hurt you. This weapon can destroy unprepared M1126s if they can get rounds into your rear or the roof. They can also appear to be weaker variants at long range, so be wary. The ZSU-23 MT-LB can technically kill you, but it takes a decent number of rounds. For the uninitiated, the ZSU-23 has terrible accuracy, so don't worry too much about it. 30 mm MT-LBs are the only real threat. They can and will wreck your M1126 very quickly if they get the drop on you and know what they are doing. Smarter gunners have been known to let you pass by until they can target your rear doors.
 * 3) BTR-80 and BTR-82A: Your primary adversary. These two are around the same speed as you, and pretty maneuverable to boot. They have much poorer armour however, and their weapons don't have as powerful zoom as the CROWS. The BTR-80 has a KPVT HMG, the BTR-82A has a 30 mm, both can take you out, so be careful about keeping your behind out of view.

Trivia

 * The Canadian branch of General Dynamics Land Systems created the original variant for the Canadian forces, in the form of the LAV III and the Coyote Reconnaissance Vehicle. The final version for the US is significantly different from the original Canadian vehicles.
 * The M1126 in game uses 2-25 ID 1-27 INF (2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment) as its unit designation. Which is/was a real M1126 unit in the United States Army.