Vehicles chosen in fight to replace Humvee
Vehicles chosen in fight to replace Humvee
By Lance M. Bacon - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Aug 27, 2012 7:44:58 EDT
The race is on.
The Army has selected three vehicles in its race to replace the Humvee with a stronger tactical vehicle called the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV.
Getting contracts valued at a combined $185 million are AM General, Lockheed Martin and Oshkosh. The three now enter a 27-month engineering and manufacturing development phase in which they will mature technologies, validate the manufacturing process and put their respective vehicles through hundreds of rigorous tests.
Only one will be king of the hill when the dust settles, but the prize is worth the pain. The program is worth an estimated $20 billion. The Army wants at least 20,000 JLTVs, with the potential to buy a lot more. Officials want to replace a third of the 150,000-vehicle Humvee fleet with the JLTV. The Marine Corps plans to buy 5,500.
Each company must deliver 22 vehicles within one year, with the first two due almost immediately.
Here’s a look at the contenders:
AM General, maker of the Humvee, has the most experience in this arena. That is evident when looking at the JLTV prototype, called the Blast Resistant Vehicle-Offroad (BRV-O). Many have described it as a “Hummer on steroids.”
The company teamed with General Dynamics, though it is not clear if the venerable double-V hull will make its way from the Stryker to the BRV-O. American General described its vehicle as having “modular armor already proven effective in government-supervised blast testing” and a mobility technology with more than 300,000 operational test miles.
Lockheed Martin is the newcomer to this arena, but it already has made a big impression. The company beefed up force protection while cutting weight and cost during the technology demonstration phase. It already has conducted helicopter lift tests — a critical issue in early development — and has logged more than 160,000 testing miles.
The company’s key partner, BAE Systems, brings its vast armor knowledge to bear. Soldiers will especially appreciate the user-friendly crew cab, which was designed around the war fighter. Lockheed’s aerospace background and systems integration experience enabled it to put a substantial amount of capability into the dashboard, which frees space for the war fighter.
Oshkosh Defense took the success of the M-ATV’s modular and scalable protection and packaged it into the Light Combat Tactical All-Terrain Vehicle, or L-ATV. The diesel-electric powertrain was replaced with an electric powertrain, but mobility is its key strength. The TAK-4i intelligent suspension system provides up to 20 inches of independent wheel travel. These combine to provide a vehicle that is 50 percent faster off-road than the M-ATV without adding bumps and bruises.
The company has built military vehicles for 90 years, and repeatedly points to its ability to build “on time and on budget.” That capability will no doubt carry much weight in a cash-strapped Pentagon.
Bringing JLTV back from the dead
Army and industry leaders were quick to address the contracts, saying they are proud of the hard work done thus far and excited to step into this new era. But this isn’t the same old song and dance: This program was all but dead a little more than one year ago.
The Senate Appropriations Committee was about to pull the plug when Army and Marine Corps leaders teamed with industry leaders (a rather unprecedented move) to trim vehicle costs by $100,000 and cut 16 months from the $52 million EMD phase. The result is a $270,000 base vehicle that costs a little more than a recapped Humvee, but offers the survivability of a mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle, better mobility than a Humvee and the ability to add mission kits. It will be transportable by ship or helicopter and be able to provide 30 kilowatts of exportable power.
Soldiers will see four JLTV variants with companion trailers:
• The utility carrier and shelter (JLTV-UTL). This two-seat prime mover has an open bed for nonshelter cargo and can tow everything from 105mm howitzers to Q-36 radars.
• The general-purpose vehicle (JLTV-GP) is designed to move troops and small supply items around the battlefield. With a kit upgrade, it can become a command-and-control platform that provides access to the network and applications that support maneuver, fires, aviation, intelligence, signal and logistics.
• The heavy guns carrier (JLTV-HGC) is a JLTV-GP mission package that accommodates mounted crew-served weapons in a protected gun mount.
• The close-combat weapons carrier (JLTV-CCWC) is an anti-tank/anti-armor platform that will employ the Army’s TOW-Improved Target Acquisition System and the Marine Corps’ Saber weapons, and direct-fire kinetic weapons such as the M2 .50-cal machine gun.
The utility variant is a two-seater. All others have four seats. The JLTV-GP and CCWC can carry 5,100 pounds. The trailer can carry 6,000 pounds and the JLTV-UTL can haul 11,000 pounds.
The Pentagon requires at least 600 mean miles before an essential function failure. The JLTV must also operate in altitudes from minus 500 feet to 12,000 feet and maintain full mission capability in temperatures from minus 40 degrees to 125 degrees, according to established requirements. When temperatures drop well below zero, the JLTV must start within one minute with no external aids, kits or prior warming of the batteries.
Once fired up, the vehicle can go 350 paved miles at 35 mph or 300 miles in operational terrain on a single tank of JP-8 fuel. The JLTV can go from 0 to 30 mph in seven seconds on dry, level, hard terrain, and can ford 60 inches of saltwater obstacle without a fording kit, in forward and reverse, while maintaining contact with the ground.
The JLTV will be required to perform as well as or better than the Humvee in practically every category. It will have a 25-foot turning radius and can take on 24-inch vertical obstacles in forward and reverse. It can drive off an 18-inch vertical step at 15 mph and sustain no mechanical damage. It can traverse a 20-degree V-ditch that is 25 feet wide at an approach angle of 45 degrees. It can jump a 6-inch parallel curb at 15 mph and traverse a 20-foot flight of stairs at 5 mph. It can handle a 60 percent dry, hard-surfaced grade and can traverse a 40 percent slope with no degradation in driver control.
Weighing in at no more than 12,660 pounds, the JLTV can be prepared in 30 minutes for transport by aircraft, Maritime Prepositioning Force ships or rail. This is aided by an adjustable-height suspension that includes five heights.
To keep costs down, the Army opted for an “incrementally scalable” C4ISR solution. Simply put, you take only what you need.
Safety, convenience features
But some cool features are common to all the vehicles. One example is the Central Tire Inflation System, which allows the driver to adjust vehicle tires to any one of four preset tire pressures: highway, cross country, mud/snow/sand and emergency. It takes two minutes to deflate from one setting to the next, and from two to six minutes to inflate, depending on the setting. A visual indicator warns the driver of excessive speed at pressure conditions.
Safety is a key factor in the vehicle’s design. Two soldiers can install B-kit armor in five hours. An 800-pound rocket-propelled grenade protection kit can be installed in two hours at field-level maintenance and completed by the crew within 30 minutes. Each vehicle has a backup viewing capability that also provides a 25-foot situational awareness to your six o’clock.
The JLTV also has an automatic fire-extinguishing system to protect the crew cabin and engine compartment. Fixed fuel tanks are self-sealing, mounted externally and shielded by the JLTV structure. Each crew seat has a combined seat and blast restraint device. Ingress time for a crew of four in combat equipment is 30 seconds or less. Egress with B-kit doors is within 10 seconds.
And let us not forget the creature comforts.
The heater can raise the crew compartment from a bitter minus 40 degrees to a comfortable 65 degrees in one hour. The air conditioner can drop the temp from 120 degrees to 90 degrees within 40 minutes. That leaves plenty of time to put the adjustable driver seat in the right position.
And when the road is long, the driver and commander can place their 12- or 24-ounce drinks in the JLTV’s two cup holders.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/0...picked-082712/
