THAAD launch vehicles on train??

This one may be hard to believe.

I was going down US Hwy 2 in north central Montana early this morning, when I saw a train loaded with military vehicles. This was nothing new, as I see these trains fairly often through here.

But as it went by, I noticed the vehicles were something different than the usual Bradleys and such. The entire train was one type of transport truck. Working for the railroad as I do, a few days ago I was looking at the Army cargo container system on the web. They call it the PLS system. These trucks looked very similar, but not quite the same thing.

So when I got home today, I started searching through the web to find what type it might be. I wasn't having any luck, because the bed of the trucks just weren't the same as what I saw. Then I stumbled across the lockheed thaad site. The trucks I saw looked exactly like the transports show for the THAAD defense system, without the boxed missiles.

The last I heard, even the rosiest estimates didn't put the THAAD operational until 2007, but they have had several successful tests recently. Considering the recent and on-going problems with N Korea and the reported jump in missile production by China and Iran, maybe the Army has accelerated the THAAD program and is pushing the system out early?

I counted 65 of these vehicles on this one train.



This is the Army PLS transport:






This is what I saw, minus the long boxed missiles:

OK, so why aren't the pictures working now? They were there in the preview!!!????

I put them in the ats uploads, which says to link to them as uploads/filename. Did I miss something here?

Spectre try these links:

Standard PLS palletized cargo system-

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What I think I saw, THAAD system:

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Hope these work!

MT

Rail is a common option for transporting military vehicles. i do not think that they woudl rail mount a THAAD though. As I reall, the AF decided not to rail garrison ICBM's becuause all the bouncing and rocking might damage components etc. I suspect THAAD would be the same.

It was a train full of the transports, not a rail mounted system.

And again, I'm not 100% sure they were THAAD system transports. That is the closest thing I could find to what I saw, though. The axel number on the trailer units, and the flatbed configuration are different from the standard PLS.

Do you know of other Army trucks with this configuration? I would be interested to look at them if there were.

Did you pick up on GW's statement on the debate last night when he said he had authorized an acceleration in the missile defense system? If these were THAAD's, that would be one heck of an acceleration!!!!!