TWV Protection Kits

Abstract

This program element supports periodic, evolutionary upgrade of survivability and crew protection for Heavy Tactical Vehicles (HTV) and Medium Tactical Vehicles (MTV) as described in the Tactical Wheeled Vehicle (TWV) Strategy and individual variants' Capability Production Documents (CPDs). The upgrades will leverage the Army Technology Objective's (ATO) survivability and Army Research Laboratory's (ARL) research and development activities to develop and evaluate armor kits which increase the protection level of all HTVs to the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) protection level as well as anticipating changing threat environments, protection gaps, or improving the operating performance, efficiency, and reliability through armor weight reduction. This Program Element (PE) also supports increasing crew protection by leveraging advancements in autonomous ground vehicle technology via development and evaluation of autonomous applique kits that can be applied to the current and future HTV fleet. Funding supports modernization of the current Tactical Wheeled Vehicle fleets by investigating technology insertions including, but not limited to: condition based maintenance, vetronics, Victory Architecture, autonomous operations and other emerging technologies. Funding also supports developing initial prototypes to enable refinement of Operational Requirements and early user feedback to support future sustainment and operational movement operating concepts. The Heavy Dump Truck (HDT) supports construction projects by loading, transporting and dumping payloads of sand and gravel aggregates, crushed rock, hot asphalt mixes, earth, clay, rubble, large boulders and other materials up to gross vehicle weight rating to job sites under world-wide climatic conditions. The HDT also serves as a quarry truck for the quick transport of bulk raw earth material to and from the crushing, screening and washing plant and the asphalt mixing plant. The HDT also serves as a transportation asset for organizational equipment. The HDT is Long Term Armor Strategy (LTAS) compliant with MRAP 1.1 underbody protection. The armor solution is developed concurrently with the production of armor capable HDTs. The Heavy Equipment Transporter System (HETS) is comprised of a M1070A1 Tractor and M1000 Trailer for transport, recovery and evacuation of heavy, oversized combat equipment such as the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank (MBT) and M88 recovery vehicle or similar loads. The current HETS has two capability gaps: Payload and Road Network Accessibility. The current HETS is not capable of transporting or loading/unloading the heaviest combat platform in the ABCT since it exceeds the HETS rated payload of 70 tons (U.S.). Road Network Accessibility of the current HETS is restricted due to exceeding axle load limits CONUS/OCONUS, which prevents the HETS from obtaining road permits. In the near term, the interim solution is to modify current HETS tractors and procure new HETS trailers. The long term solution is the Enhanced Heavy Equipment Transporter System (EHETS) that will address these capability gaps. The EHETS will provide increased payload, highway transportability, and force protection over its predecessor. The near term interim solution is in response to a United States Army Europe (USAREUR) Operational Needs Statement (ONS# 17-22207) for Heavy Equipment Transporter Systems with deliveries beginning the first quarter of FY2020. The USAREUR HETS ONS solution will be capable of carrying 78.5 Tons of payload while achieving host country road permits at a reduced weight of 75 tons. The recommended course of action for satisfying the ONS is to utilize a modified version of the M1070A1 tractor combined with a commercial 8-axle trailer. Per the 1 DEC 17 Army Requirements Oversight Council (AROC) decision, this trailer will be capable of carrying 85 tons. The AROC also directed an additional modification to the tractor that will allow it to achieve an ultimate carrying capacity of 85 tons. The Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) Armor Kit design was greatly enhanced and requires testing to support Full Material Release. The FMTV requirements document issued for a Medium Tactical Vehicle (MTV) truck delineates model configuration upgrades needed to support required transport capabilities, armor capabilities, and load dimensions. This Acquisition Strategy reduces operation and support costs, displaces vehicles which cannot be armored, and results in a more reliable fleet. FY 2020 Project VR5 Base funds in the amount of $4.324 million will be used to test six (6) armored Heavy Dump Trucks. Armored truck testing costs include system testing, evaluation and report production for the HDT program. The Government will conduct Production Verification Testing (PVT), which includes First Production Vehicle Inspection (FPVI), Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) testing, Operational Testing (OT), and Live Fire Testing (LFT), as well as OEM test services support, familiarization training and refurbishment of test assets. FY 2020 Project VR5 Base funds in the amount of $0.500 million will be used for testing of the improvements to the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) Armor Kit that are required to support Full Material Release. In accordance with Section 1815 of the FY 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 110-181), this item is necessary for use by the active and reserve components of the Armed Forces for homeland defense missions, domestic emergency responses, and providing military support to civil authorities.

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2020
• Source ID: VR5_0604622A_5_2040_PB_2020

Tags

Fields of Study

• Engineering

Readers

• Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
• Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.