Boeing Once Developed A Vehicle For The Navy Called, Adorably, 'Phantom Badger'

Sometimes, people will give serious things unserious names. A velvet ant, for example, may sound like a tiny critter that's covered in the sort of material you'd find in an old Land Rover's interior, but it actually has one of the most painful stings in the animal kingdom. Then there's the panhandle hooker: though it sounds like a questionably frisky profession, it actually refers to a dangerous storm that develops in the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma.

Or how about the Phantom Badger? We'd have thought it was a mischievous weasel that has a mask-like face, but no. It's actually the name of a military vehicle that was built by Boeing, in partnership with MSI Defense Solutions, starting in 2013. The Phantom Badger was designed to assist U.S. Marine and Air Force squads with a variety of tasks, including, but not limited to, casualty evacuation, reconnaissance missions, and search and rescue.

This versatility is owed to its modular rear section, which allows the Phantom Badger to be quickly repurposed for different roles. It was also built to be easily transported in a Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, which is a popular aircraft used by the military.

The Phantom Badger's unclear fate makes exploring its specs even more interesting. While the Navy certified that the Phantom Badger could be transported inside a V-22, the vehicle was not selected for the U.S. Special Operations Command contract it was designed for. Records appear to show no evidence of the Phantom Badger being mass-produced for widespread military service.

As you might be led to believe, the Phantom Badger isn't powered by earthworms and vegetation. Instead, it uses a 3.0-liter multi-fuel V6 turbocharged engine producing up to 240 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque. Though we don't really know its 0-60 mph time, we can confirm it hit a maximum of 80 mph on paved surfaces. Its fuel tank is also big enough to provide around 450 miles of range, returning an estimated fuel economy of 21 miles per gallon.

In truth, those are respectable figures. Obviously, it's not quite as fast as a Ford GT Mk IV, the fastest American car to lap the Nürburgring, nor as comfortable as the Rolls-Royce Spectre Series II. But can either of those skip through waters up to three feet deep? We think not. Thanks to the Phantom Badger's height-adjustable suspension and 35-inch tires, not even a mountain of badgers wearing actual phantom masks could stop it.

It is both shorter than a Tesla Model S (180 inches versus 197 inches) and narrower (60 inches versus 86 inches). Now, we're not saying this thing will handle like an Integra R-swapped, left-hand drive Series 1 Lotus Elise, but its turning radius is solid at 24 feet. Staying true to its military makings, it weighs in at a beastly 7,850 pounds and boasts a 3,356-pound maximum payload.

The Phantom Badger has room for five soldiers: two at the front, two at the rear, and one in the middle. Plus, since it's an open-top vehicle, passengers aren't lacking headroom. Let's not forget that the Phantom Badger can hold a 12.7mm machine gun or a 40mm grenade launcher on its weapon mount. The rear hull sits between a pair of swivel stations too, so there are extra places for machine guns up to 7.62mm. Could the infamous honey badger have met its match with the Phantom Badger?