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Army testing Humvee made of foam, balsa

The Army said Tuesday it will begin testing a composite, nonmetal Humvee utility vehicle that is 900 pounds lighter than its conventional counterpart so it can carry extra armor to better protect soldiers against roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The prototype vehicle’s frame and body is made of nonmetal composites — a combination of fiberglass, balsa wood, foam and carbon reinforcements all held together with resin.

The body of the tan composite prototype has a sandpaper feel. The fenders are pliable and can be easily bent by hand, flipping back into place when released.

“We can put the strength where we need it,” said Steven Lockard, president and CEO of TPI Composites Inc., which built the prototype.

The chassis, for example, has extra carbon for added strength and stiffness, while other composite parts of the vehicle are lighter and more pliable, he said.

“Every pound of weight we save, that weight is being added back to the vehicle in armor and mine-blast protection,” Lockard said.

Roadside bombs are the No. 1 killer of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. A conventional Humvee weighs between 10,000 and 12,000 pounds.

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based think tank that follows military issues, said composite vehicles would have some advantages, but will likely cost more to make. And he said the soldiers would have to get accustomed to using them in combat zones.

Crystal Cockerell, 39, of Gahanna, Ohio, was injured in Iraq on Aug. 10, 2004, when a dump-trucklike vehicle in which she was riding went over a roadside bomb. The Army guardsman suffered hearing loss in both ears and still has shrapnel in her leg.

Cockerell said adding armor weighs a Humvee down and makes it ride lower to the ground. A lighter vehicle that rides higher even with added armor might have a greater degree of protection if it runs directly over a bomb, she said.

“We need something that’s going to be thick but lightweight,” she said.

The vehicle is the result of an 18-month research-and-development program with AM General Corp. and the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, a laboratory for military automotive technology.

Matt Ociepka, a spokesman for the Army research lab in Warren, Mich., said he didn’t know when tests on the vehicle would begin.

Lockard said the composite vehicles would be slightly more expensive than conventional Humvees. He declined to say how much that would be. He said Army officials haven’t committed to buying any of them. If they do, he doesn’t know how many they might order.

“We could ramp up pretty quickly to most any volume that would be desired,” he said.

Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, whose congressional district includes the Springfield plant where the vehicles would be built, and who is a senior member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, said he would like to see the vehicles on the battlefield if they work as envisioned and improve soldier safety.

The Springfield plant currently employs 40 workers. TPI plans to add 300 production and engineering jobs at the plant over the next three years to produce a range of composite products for the military.