Army Explores Commercial Technologies for New, Maximum-Performance Pickup Trucks

Detroit, Mich., Mar. 6, 2000 - - The U.S. Army is exploring some unusual concepts in truck design, acquisition and logistics, and is doing so in cooperation with major U.S. vehicle manufacturers. Objectives include safer, better-performing military trucks, fast adaptation of civilian production to wartime needs, and simplified support - - in short, an improved response to America's defense requirements, all at lower cost to taxpayers.

This development program is called COMBATT, for COMmercially BAsed Tactical Truck. It is sponsored by the Army's National Automotive Center (NAC) and managed by Veridian-ERIM International (Ann Arbor, Mich.). Participating manufacturers are DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Co., and AM General.

The first COMBATT demonstration vehicles - - two maximum-performance, off-road pickup trucks and an advanced systems HMMWV - - were unveiled by the NAC today at the opening of the SAE 2000 World Congress in Detroit's Cobo Center.

The problem and the targeted solution.
The Army's million-vehicle fleet is aging. Many trucks are older than their drivers! Beefing up commercial pickup trucks for general cargo and troop carrier use would free more HMMWVs for front-line assignments. By leveraging commercial vehicle technology, the Army aims to maintain a consistently modern, mission-ready vehicle fleet while reducing the costs of development, production and spare parts. The Army is even looking at fleet leasing and contracted logistical support.

Successful field tests. Structurally modified and equipped with advanced drivetrain, suspension, electrical and electronic components, the demonstration COMBATT vehicles recently underwent exhaustive desert field trials. They were tested for payload, on-road and off-road control, braking, ride, cooling, slam-bang resiliency, even for operation on 60 percent grades and 40 percent side slopes. The COMBATT program calls for vehicles to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and EPA emission standards. Further tests and evaluations are scheduled.

"We are initiating some exciting challenges to traditional Army practices, with potential spillover to the civilian marketplace," says NAC director Dennis Wend. "Imagine the Army leasing vehicles instead of buying them. After three or four years, we'd turn them in on new and improved models. Off-lease vehicles could be ideal for loggers, mining companies, surveyors, rural fire fighters, and for use in countries that don't have well-developed highway systems.

"In peacetime, contractor logistical support - - a form of outsourcing - - could mean we wouldn't need to stock spare parts, purchase as much diagnostic and repair equipment, and only make repairs in the course of training mechanics. Savings in manpower, tools and facilities could be substantial," Wend says.

In the SAE's Safety Pavilion, the NAC displayed a COMBATT program HMMWV equipped with performance and safety systems including, among others, collision warning, night vision, inflatable torso restraints, "flat run" tires, flat panel instrument displays and thermal imaging.

there is a lot more about it too.

 

found this at www.strategypage.com

The ULTRA AP (Ford pickup turned into an armored combat vehicle)

Billions of dollars are being thrown at the IED (roadside bomb) problem in Iraq. This means that a lot of ideas that would, in normal times, never get money, now do. Some are strange, and useless, and diligent muckrakers will eventually get to them. But some are pretty interesting, and potentially useful. One of them is the ULTRA AP, a heavily modified Ford F-350 pickup. The 350 (and its cousin, the 250) are favorites with police and armed forces in many nations. The Afghan army recently bought 5,000 modified (for harsh cross country terrain) F-350s for their army. The ULTRA AP (for Armored Patrol) was designed to reflect some of the ideas coming out of Iraq, on how to design a more effective “armored truck” for combat patrols in an area where you are likely to encounter mines, roadside bombs and ambushes. The F-350 was selected because it is a mature, proven design that provides a good starting point. The Office of Naval Research (which does stuff for the marines), turned the Georgia Tech Research Institute (which does a lot of defense work, and is considered the “MIT of the South”) loose on the project.

The first mod was the use the light-weight armor that was being used by military trucks in Iraq. This included bullet and blast proof glass. The next mod was more interesting, and based on suggestions from the troops. The seating was changed from four people sitting two by two, to a diamond, one by two by one, arrangement. This meant replacing the current body of the 350 with a new one that made the ULTRA AP look more like an armored car. But this did two important things. It got the passengers farther away from the wheels, which are the things that go over mines and take much of the blast. Second, it put the four passengers in positions troops consider more useful. The driver is in front, taking care of driving. The two passengers behind the driver face the left and right. The fourth passenger faces the rear. This way, the passengers are always giving the vehicle a view of potential threats coming from any direction. The passenger compartment is actually a “blast bucket,” with armor beneath the passengers that deflects much of the blast away. The designers also took advantage of the computer networks that are now standard in motor vehicles, and provided the driver with more control over maneuvering the vehicle on roads, and cross country.

The Office of Naval Research will test the ULTRA AP to see if the design concepts are worth incorporating into future military vehicles. Some more may be built so that they can be tested with mines and roadside bombs as well.
Billions of dollars are being thrown at the IED (roadside bomb) problem in Iraq. This means that a lot of ideas that would, in normal times, never get money, now do. Some are strange, and useless, and diligent muckrakers will eventually get to them. But some are pretty interesting, and potentially useful. One of them is the ULTRA AP, a heavily modified Ford F-350 pickup. The 350 (and its cousin, the 250) are favorites with police and armed forces in many nations. The Afghan army recently bought 5,000 modified (for harsh cross country terrain) F-350s for their army. The ULTRA AP (for Armored Patrol) was designed to reflect some of the ideas coming out of Iraq, on how to design a more effective “armored truck” for combat patrols in an area where you are likely to encounter mines, roadside bombs and ambushes. The F-350 was selected because it is a mature, proven design that provides a good starting point. The Office of Naval Research (which does stuff for the marines), turned the Georgia Tech Research Institute (which does a lot of defense work, and is considered the “MIT of the South”) loose on the project.

The first mod was the use the light-weight armor that was being used by military trucks in Iraq. This included bullet an

 

That looks like a hot ticket for convoy escort. I like the turret hatch over the rear passenger. If they made it so you could mount a M2 .50 cal machine gun or a MK 19 grenade launcher on it, that would be the ultimate convoy escort.