thedrifter
08-30-05, 01:09 PM
September 05, 2005
Has the Humvee had it?
Pentagon wants to field upgraded vehicle by 2008
By Steven Komarow
USA Today
The Pentagon is speeding up its search for something to replace the Humvee after two years of roadside bombs and suicide attacks in Iraq have killed hundreds of troops in a vehicle that was not designed for front-line, close-in urban combat.
Before the Iraq war, plans did not call for replacing the Humvee until the middle of the next decade. Now, the Army plans to review designs this fall, and working prototypes will be due in June.
About 24,000 Humvees are in Iraq and Afghanistan. But by 2008, the military could start using a new vehicle that provides:
• More protection for troops. Congressional pressure forced the military to add armor to all older Humvees and buy more models with factory-installed armor. But even Humvees with the latest armor are still vulnerable to the powerful bombs insurgents use.
• A beefier suspension that can handle the weight of the armor. The extra armor has led to more maintenance problems for the Humvee, which was not designed to handle so much weight. The extra weight also makes it more prone to rolling over and getting bogged down in sand.
• Lower fuel consumption, to ease the need for supply convoys, insurgents’ favorite targets.
• Powerful on-board power generation, to handle the blooming array of electronics that troops take into battle today compared with the simple radios of 30 years ago. Hybrid-electric drivetrains, gaining popularity in passenger vehicles and already being tested in current Humvee prototypes, are under serious consideration for both mileage and power generation.
“We wish we had that vehicle out there today,” said Lt. Col. Stuart Rogers, transportation chief at the Army’s Combined Arms Support Command.
“Survivability is our primary concern,” said Jeff Bradel of the Office of Naval Research, now overseeing prototype development for the Marine Corps.
Unlike the Humvee, originally designed for moving troops and supplies behind the lines, the next vehicle will be a fighter from the start, he said.
The original design worked well in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere, said Thomas Donnelly, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a research organization. But the Iraq war has forced the vehicle into roles that were “never contemplated” for it, including battling bomb-wielding insurgents in urban combat.
“If this is the threat of the future, the long-term utility of the Humvee has to be questioned,” Gen. William “Spider” Nyland, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told a House panel in June.
Roadside bombs are among the leading killers of U.S. troops, and nearly half of the American casualties in Iraq in July were inside Humvees, military records show.
The effort to armor the vehicles to counter this threat has had limited success. Some flaws just cannot be fixed without a major redesign.
For example, even with armor, a Humvee’s flat bottom will not deflect bomb blasts as well as new designs with boat-shaped underbodies.
The added weight has cost the Humvee much of its legendary off-road capability, a big concern of combat commanders. The next vehicle, officials said, would be armor-capable from the start, possibly using computer-controlled suspensions to stay nimble despite its larger mass.
Ellie
Has the Humvee had it?
Pentagon wants to field upgraded vehicle by 2008
By Steven Komarow
USA Today
The Pentagon is speeding up its search for something to replace the Humvee after two years of roadside bombs and suicide attacks in Iraq have killed hundreds of troops in a vehicle that was not designed for front-line, close-in urban combat.
Before the Iraq war, plans did not call for replacing the Humvee until the middle of the next decade. Now, the Army plans to review designs this fall, and working prototypes will be due in June.
About 24,000 Humvees are in Iraq and Afghanistan. But by 2008, the military could start using a new vehicle that provides:
• More protection for troops. Congressional pressure forced the military to add armor to all older Humvees and buy more models with factory-installed armor. But even Humvees with the latest armor are still vulnerable to the powerful bombs insurgents use.
• A beefier suspension that can handle the weight of the armor. The extra armor has led to more maintenance problems for the Humvee, which was not designed to handle so much weight. The extra weight also makes it more prone to rolling over and getting bogged down in sand.
• Lower fuel consumption, to ease the need for supply convoys, insurgents’ favorite targets.
• Powerful on-board power generation, to handle the blooming array of electronics that troops take into battle today compared with the simple radios of 30 years ago. Hybrid-electric drivetrains, gaining popularity in passenger vehicles and already being tested in current Humvee prototypes, are under serious consideration for both mileage and power generation.
“We wish we had that vehicle out there today,” said Lt. Col. Stuart Rogers, transportation chief at the Army’s Combined Arms Support Command.
“Survivability is our primary concern,” said Jeff Bradel of the Office of Naval Research, now overseeing prototype development for the Marine Corps.
Unlike the Humvee, originally designed for moving troops and supplies behind the lines, the next vehicle will be a fighter from the start, he said.
The original design worked well in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere, said Thomas Donnelly, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a research organization. But the Iraq war has forced the vehicle into roles that were “never contemplated” for it, including battling bomb-wielding insurgents in urban combat.
“If this is the threat of the future, the long-term utility of the Humvee has to be questioned,” Gen. William “Spider” Nyland, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told a House panel in June.
Roadside bombs are among the leading killers of U.S. troops, and nearly half of the American casualties in Iraq in July were inside Humvees, military records show.
The effort to armor the vehicles to counter this threat has had limited success. Some flaws just cannot be fixed without a major redesign.
For example, even with armor, a Humvee’s flat bottom will not deflect bomb blasts as well as new designs with boat-shaped underbodies.
The added weight has cost the Humvee much of its legendary off-road capability, a big concern of combat commanders. The next vehicle, officials said, would be armor-capable from the start, possibly using computer-controlled suspensions to stay nimble despite its larger mass.
Ellie