The new military grade ATV from Polaris, the Sportsman WV850 H.O. with Terrain Armor tires.

Leveraging their growing military business, Polaris recently launched a new military-grade ATV featuring Terrain Armor™ Non-Pneumatic Tires (NPT). The new Sportsman® WV850 H.O. with Terrain Armor will be available in “very limited quantities” in December 2013 for consumers looking for a work vehicle.

The non-pneumatic tires were first developed for military applications. Polaris has won a number of contracts to supply US and allied militaries with ATVs and UTVs for use in combat environments and started offering the NPTs earlier this year. Polaris has tested NPTs under several extreme situations, including logging more than 350 miles/563 kilometers after receiving fire from a 50-cal round, and driving 1,000 miles/1609 kilometers with a 3 in/7.6 cm railroad spike in the tread and webbing. The vehicle is designed for extreme work or hunting conditions and also features upgrades to the transmission, shocks and cooling.

Taking less than a year to move the technology over from the military to the consumer market is impressive. I contacted a Polaris representative about any military grade UTVs in the works but they said they were not aware of any. However, it would seem to be the next logical step. Potentially, you could see the tires useful for not only work but recreational riding in more extreme terrain. Learn more:  Businesswire.com