source:
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/article.cfm?Id=1486
by Roxana Tiron
July 2004
While the U.S. Army is pegging its future on the ambitious future
combat systemsa family of manned and unmanned vehicles and
aircrafta partly government-owned Singaporean company also is
looking at a series of concepts to deploy faster and lighter
forces.
Singapore Technologies Kinetics made headlines during this years
Asian Aerospace show for signing a memorandum of understanding with
Lockheed Martin to work on the development of the Mule, a 2.5-ton
vehicle meant for reconnaissance or transport missions under the
FCS architecture. Lockheed Martin works as a sub-contractor to the
lead systems integrator team of Boeing and SAIC.
ST Kinetics, is the land systems arm of the Singapore Technologies
conglomerate that is made up of a series of other companies working
in the aerospace, electronics and marine sectors.
Many of the concepts that the company is working on are based on
the philosophy that the answer to making forces lighter and more
easily deployable is the development of technologies that can be
linked together.
One of ST Kinetics recent developments is a light strike vehicle,
called the Spider. The Spider is a line-of-sight, semi-autonomous
vehicle, which can be used both as a troop carrier and as a robot
to detect ordinance or hidden enemies.
Imagine a situation where the crew of a Spider comes to a bridge,
for example, and then they suspect that somebody is hiding under
it, Patrick Choy, head of marketing, told National Defense. The
soldiers can get out and then operate the vehicle by remote
control.
The vehicle can fit six people and has a collapsible roll cage
frame that allows the vehicles to be stacked in C-130 cargo
aircraft. According to the company, six Spiders can fit into one
C-130.
When switching to the robotic controls, the vehicle has a range of
500 meters, enough to keep you out of a blast area, Choy said. In
the future, the vehicle will be outfitted with a global positioning
system to become fully autonomous, said Choy.
The Spider is propelled by a 130-horse power engine and can handle
rugged conditions, said the company. The Spider is built out of
tubes, an approach that makes the vehicle light, said Choy. Because
it is light, the vehicle also can be dropped into the field from
helicopters, he added.
What we are also doing, is putting a protection suite around the
vehicle, said Choy. The suite can be applied without adding
significant weight to the vehicle, or sacrificing its payload, Choy
pointed out. Today, composite materials are so good, I can put
protection around the cabin and protection beneath it to take the
blast, he added. The armor would only offer protection against
small arms firing up to 7.62 mm rounds.
The Spider also can be used as a decoy in certain operations, said
Choy, fooling enemy forces into thinking the vehicle is occupied,
while its, in fact, remotely controlled.
To enhance survivability and reduce deployment time, the company
has developed a concept for linking robots to manned vehicles. The
technology that allows that to happen is called articulation, which
allows parts of a vehicle, or two vehicles to attach and detach
quickly. In the concept developed by ST Kinetics, the rear cabin,
when detached, can be used as a semi-autonomous robot.
Articulation gives us a way to compensate when we forward-deploy
the forces, Choy said. I can send the vehicle in two parts into
the battlefield, and link them up. The goal behind articulation is
to have platforms transported into pieces onto C-130s or vertical
take-off and landing aircraft, such as the V-22 Osprey.
Articulation is not a Singaporean innovationit comes from
countries such as Norway, Sweden and Finland, which have to brave
snow and mountainous terrain. Choy noted that the companys idea of
articulation was based on a Russian variation.
People may think articulation looks clumsy, but he argues that
articulated vehicles have fairly good mobility. ST Kinetics used
its already existing all-terrain vehicle, the Bronco, to
demonstrate the concept, said Choy.
However, some problems with articulation do exist, he said. One is
that the articulated vehicle cannot be decoupled quickly enough.
Another problem is that once detached from the front part, which
contains the engine, the rear remains without power or steering
capability, Choy said.
To solve the shortcomings, ST Kinetics is trying to come up with a
concept called active articulation, said Choy. That kind of
articulation would allow the vehicle to be linked together or
detached quickly. However, the challenges in doing that are many,
he added.
Both decoupled parts need to move as independent vehicles. If I
can bring my robotic ability and put it into the rear cabin, then I
have the capability of sending a platform out with the crew, he
said.
The Spider itself can be outfitted with active articulation. If it
were made smaller, it could be flown in a Chinook, together with a
power trailer holding weapons and ammunition. Once on the ground,
the Spider and the trailer could be coupled.
The company also is working on entirely unmanned systems, including
one designed for urban combat. At the squad-level, ST Kinetics is
working on an improved remote attack vehicle, for short I-RAV. The
vehicle is a remotely controlled robot on tracks.
I-RAV is a proof of concept, said Choy, and can be sent to detect
explosive ordnance, especially in urban and populated areas. The
robot carries a camera and can show the troops outside if a room,
for example, is friendly or hostile, he said.
Another piece of equipment designed for urban warfare is the
dual-caliber squad support weapon. While the idea of a dual caliber
is not new, the squad weapon has a fire control system that allows
it to shoot 40 mm air-bursting munition from a handheld
system.
With a full load of 40 mm or 5.7 mm roundsfor individual
defensethe squad weapon weighs six kilograms, light enough for
soldiers to carry, said the company. The weapon can engage targets
at ranges of up to 200 meters, according to the company.
The squad support weapon allows us to bring an air-bursting
capability, which today is only available on crew-served weapons,
said Choy. I want to bring that into the hands of the individual
soldier. If you dominate rooftops, you have good control.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------