Good Day, Just what Pop into my Inbox.
Just Sharing. Long article, only the initial portion is pasted
inside.
Armada International 2007 February
Armouring trucks for combat: add-on armour is a necessity
for combat service support vehicles to operate on the modern
asymmetric battlefield
After the collapse of Saddam Hussein's army in 2003 Iraqi
insurgents were quick to realise that the Achilles heel of US-led
coalition forces is the ten of thousands of soft-skin combat
service support vehicles necessary to bring essential items into
Iraq for distribution to forward-deployed units.
Improvised explosive devices, usually built using artillery shells
or land mines, are the weapons-of-choice for insurgents, as they
can be detonated independently or used to initiate an ambush by
insurgents armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled
grenades.
The United States, other NATO nations and their allies had
developed add-on armour kits to protect soft-skin vehicles deployed
on peace support operations in Former Yugoslavia during the 1990s,
but these were acquired in comparatively small numbers. As
casualties to troops and vehicles mounted in Iraq, the US
Department of Defense launched a crash programme to provide armour
protection kits and a self-defence capability for the soft-skin
tactical wheeled vehicles in Iraq. Only 10% of the medium tactical
wheeled vehicles and about 15% of the heavy variety in Iraq had
armour protection fitted in December 2004.
Officials subsequently made a commitment that no vehicles would
leave base areas without armour fitted. Armour solutions were
improvised in theatre, as manufacturers increased production of
existing armour kits and developed new designs for vehicles that
previously had not been fitted with armour.
The Central Command operates four armour installation sites in Iraq
in addition to facilities in Kuwait. Dispersing the sites reduces
the expense and time of moving vehicles to a central location. By
late 2006 only one of these was manned entirely by military teams,
with civilian contractors operating at the other sites alongside
military personnel. Armour installation is a four-step process that
begins with stripping areas of the vehicle, then adding heat and
air conditioning, reinforcing the frame and finally installing the
armour. Besides trucks and Humvees, kits have also been developed
for engineering equipment such as bulldozers, rollers and
graders.
The fitting of add-on armour has significant cost
implications beyond initial acquisition and installation. The
weight of armour reduces a vehicle's load capacity, thus
requiring either more vehicles in theatre or more trips to be made.
With armour fitted the Humvees, the lightest member of the tactical
wheeled vehicle fleet, is no longer able to carry the standard
shelter, which must now be mounted on a trailer or carried by a
larger vehicle. As a rule, militaries operate fleets that combine
militarised versions of commercial trucks and purpose-built
military designs; it is generally much more difficult to fit add-on
armour to commercial designs than to military designs. The
additional weight also exacerbates the increased operational tempo,
which is significantly reducing the life expectancy of the American
fleet. The combined costs of up-armouring, rebuilding
(Reset), upgrading (Recap) and the acquisition of new vehicles has
resulted in the Department of Defense increasing its expenditure on
tactical wheeled vehicles from an average of about $ one billion
annually from between 2000 and 2004 to about $3 billion in
subsequent years.
The US Army is placing priority on five key areas in new
designs: mobility, fuel efficiency, electronics (such as drive
vision and movement tracking systems), cargo handling and crew
survivability. The Long-Term Armor Strategy requires that
every new vehicle be 'fitted for but not with' B-Kit armour, which
can be easily added in the field to supplement the integrated
armour protection (A-Kit) fitted, during the manufacture process,
to areas that would be difficult to reach in the field. The A/B
armour concept was pioneered by the latest variants of the AM
General Humvees, the two-seat Ml151 Armament Carrier and the
four-seat M1152 Troop/Cargo/Shelter Carrier, which the army began
fielding in mid-2005. Light Tactical Vehicles (LTV) represent about
50% of the US Army's Wheeled Tactical Vehicle fleet with about
120,000 Humvees, 9000 Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicles and limited
numbers of Small Unit Support Vehicles in service. International
Military and Government, a subsidiary of International Truck and
Engine, and Lockheed Martin are developing competing designs for
the Future Tactical Truck System Advanced Concept Technology
Demonstration, which is expected to lead to a Humvee replacement
(light utility vehicles will be the subject of an article in a
future issue of Armada International).
The army has more than 85,000 Medium Tactical Vehicles, about 40%
of its total soft-skin tactical wheeled fleet, of which more than
20,000 are Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle (FMTV) variants with
production scheduled to continue well into the next decade. Stewart
& Stevenson Tactical Vehicle Systems, manufacturer of the FMTV,
developed the Low Signature Armored Cab (Lsac) as a replacement
unit for the vehicle's commercially-derived cab and has delivered
more than 2100 units. The FMTV's standard cab can be replaced by an
Lsac in eight hours. The company claims the Lsac provides 50%
greater protection and weighs 40% less than available applique
kits. Stewart & Stevenson is also producing the lighter Lasc-H
for installation on FMTV chassis that will be used to carry the
High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and its resupply vehicle. The
company unveiled an armoured 4 x 4 FMTV utility variant in 2006.
Based on the chassis of the M1078 Light Medium Tactical Vehicle, it
features a new bonnet, behind which an Lsac is fitted. Positioning
the cab further behind the front axle improves survivability should
the vehicle strike a mine. The platform at the rear of the vehicle
can carry either a three-tonne payload or the standard shelter,
which can no longer be mounted on the Humvee.
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Sorry, just got back to
office, pm some people to arrange some stuff, saw this and
cross-posted, also in www.sgforums.com
