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Army seeks light, 100-mph battle vehicles

The Army, Marine Corps and Special Operations Command may order thousands of rugged, high-tech, high-speed vehicles that can climb mountains, rescue fallen comrades and lead quick-strike assault teams in combat, service officials said.

The two services are joining to develop or buy two kinds of vehicles: one that could drive on and off the Marine Corps’ V-22 Osprey, the other to carry more cargo, said George Loewen, a mechanical engineer with the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center. Both would be much faster and lighter than today’s Humvee or tomorrow’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

“As you look at today’s fleet, Humvees have moved up in terms of size and weight, and that has left a gap,” Loewen said.

Service officials are eyeing prototypes and early versions of several existing vehicles, including ones that can reach 100 mph on roads. TARDEC engineers are also exploring individual technologies that may give vehicles the suspension to handle rigorous terrain at high speeds.

“Soldiers are always looking for a fast-strike vehicle, to surprise the enemy fast,” Loewen said. “We’re trying to package high mobility and speed. Some designs have a traditional power system and drive train, and others look at hybridization and electric motors.”

The engineers are working on hefty, high-tech shock absorbers.

“We are moving to design the shock absorbers up in capability from 4,000-pound vehicles to 15,000-pound vehicles through commercially available Magnetic Rheological shock absorbers,” Loewen said.

These shocks, used in high-end General Motors cars, contain fluid filled with magnetic particles.

“The vehicle’s capability to handle rough terrain can be improved by magnetically aligning the particles in the fluid, which changes the response of the shock absorber, allowing it to absorb the added forces with improved handling,” Loewen said.

Army researchers and requirements officials have made no formal acquisition decisions.

“We see a wider use for these, but we are evaluating carefully,” said Rickey Smith, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center-Forward. “By gaining mobility, you lose some survivability. Speed alone can only do so much.”

It may be a few years before the vehicles arrive in deployable units.

“Acquisition is now being done differently than the traditional formal process,” an Army official said. “It will depend on how much formal durability and performance testing there is.”

It will also depend on money.

“We like innovation,” Smith said. “It is a technology set that is being reviewed for its operational utility. At the same time, you have to weigh it against other shortfalls.”

One analyst said these new light off-road vehicles are needed because so many Humvees in Iraq and Afghanistan have been given more armor and more weight.

“The Humvee has morphed into a light combat vehicle, which was never the intent,” said Dean Lockwood, a vehicles and weapons analyst with Forecast International, a Connecticut-based think tank. “With the way they have up-armored the Humvees, they are too heavy to do many of the missions they were originally intended to do.”

Marine Corps ITV

The Marines’ vision for the new vehicles will likely be shaped by their experience with the Internally Transportable Vehicle, a 4,000-pound, 65 mph, four-wheel-drive open-cockpit vehicle.

In development since 2004, it passed tests last year at Twentynine Palms, Calif.; Camp Lejeune, N.C.; and Fort Greely, Alaska.

Made by American Growler and General Dynamics, the $120,000 ITVs can carry a 2,000-pound payload and fire the MK19 grenade launcher, as well as .50-caliber and M240 machine guns, said Kevin McConnell, deputy director of the Corps’ Fires and Maneuver Integration Division.

Blackwater

The Army and Special Operations Command will soon look at Blackwater USA’s 100 mph Light Strike Vehicle. Still in the prototype stage, the 3,000-pound vehicle will have a 500-horsepower engine, 41-inch tires and a 2,500-pound payload.

“A vehicle with outstanding off-road capability and high axle articulation requires a compliant and loose suspension with maximum travel,” said Marty Strong, Blackwater USA vice president of communications. “These are the opposite characteristics required of a high-speed platform. Our suspension design spans both worlds by offering high articulation and extreme off-road performance, while still maintaining great manners when traveling at speeds approaching 100 mph.”

General Dynamics

Another potential candidate for the program is the Tactical Autonomous Chassis-Combat vehicle, which is being designed to be driven by a soldier or programmed to operate autonomously.

Emerging from the Army Research Lab in 2005, the 85 mph TAC-C has four-wheel independent suspension, can make tight turns and can drive diagonally.

“It was designed with a lot of the know-how that is typically incorporated in the off-road racing circuit in order to handle high, rocky terrain,” said Kevin Bonner, lead engineer at General Dynamics Robotic Systems.

BAE

Another candidate, the Specialized Reconnaissance Assault Transport, is being tested in Afghanistan by the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force. Delivered in December, three of the 3- to 4-ton SRATs will be evaluated for the ability to carry four soldiers and a ton of cargo through mountains and up to 100 mph on roads.

“The Humvee has a rigid suspension in a flexible cab,” said Jeffrey Earley, BAE’s business development director. “This is the reverse: It has a flexible suspension in a rigid cab.”