Humvees could get V-shaped hulls - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Humvees could get V-shaped hulls

The Corps wants to install V-shaped hulls on some of its up-armored Humvees. The move would offer Marines more protection from improvised explosive device blasts while the defense industry continues to address concerns with the military’s next-generation vehicle, the service’s top officer said.

Commandant Gen. James Conway told reporters Dec. 15 that the Corps is blast-testing one prototype to see how it compares with the still-in-the-works Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, which at 22,000 pounds is not light enough to meet the Corp’s needs, he said. His comments came less than a week after Assistant Commandant Gen. James Amos told a House Armed Services subcommittee that Marine officials are “struggling” to find a near-term solution to the JLTV’s weight issues.

The Pentagon considers the JLTV, which the Corps is developing alongside the Army to replace its fleet of Humvees, the centerpiece of the military’s long-term lightweight vehicle needs, with 10 planned variants in three weight classes ranging from an ambulance to an infantry carrier that would shuttle a four-man Marine fire team. The three finalists — BAE Systems/Navistar, Lockheed Martin and General Tactical Vehicles — were awarded contracts in 2008 and are expected to deliver JLTV prototypes to meet Marine and Army specifications by May.

The modified Humvees would only bridge the gap for a few years, Conway said, although he questioned once again whether the Corps even needs the JLTV if it is too heavy for Marine helicopters to carry.

“The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle was dependent upon technology to give us composite or plastic armor or something that would be light and yet serve the same purpose as steel. Well, that just hasn’t happened, and the experts will tell you that it’s still five years out,” he said. “So we are looking at a capability … that would elevate the Humvee so it’s not flat-bottomed and it’s well above the ground.”

If the V-hull is added, the Humvee’s ground clearance would have to be at least two to three times higher than it is now, Conway said. Most sit about eight to 10 inches from the ground.

The steeper the V-design and the higher the vehicle, the better protection it will offer against blasts, said Rob Crook, a mechanical engineer with Concurrent Technologies Corp., a nonprofit that provides research and assessment services to the government. However, a V-hull would add even more weight to a vehicle already loaded down with armor kits, he said, although he didn’t have a clear weight estimate. Engineers will have to pay careful attention to patching the hull, possibly beefing up the frame, and updating the breaks, transmission and engines to accommodate all the extra weight.

Conway did not offer details during his briefing, and it is not clear which branch of the Corps is conducting the testing. Conway said the Corps has engaged in discussions with companies that claim they can make the changes for about a tenth of the cost of a new vehicle.

The Defense Department says it’s too early to accurately determine the cost of the JLTV program, although some defense and trade analysts say it will cost “well over $10 billion and possibly as much as $30 to $70 billion, depending on the final cost of the vehicles chosen and the number of vehicles procured,” according to a May report from the Congressional Research Service.

The biggest challenge to upgrading Humvees in the interim would be modifying the suspension system to carry additional weight so it can safely travel across rough terrain, said a former Marine Corps Systems Command employee who has asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak about the project. He said the Corps most likely will modify its expanded-capacity vehicles, such as the M1114 produced by AM General, which already have a turbocharged 6.5-liter V-8 diesel engine and an armor package installed.

“There is a huge push right now regarding rollovers,” the former SysCom employee said, “but it doesn’t matter how much testing and certification the program managers can do, the guys in the field will always overload trucks.”

Despite such challenges, it makes sense to take an existing asset and adapt it to today’s wartime environment, said Erik Crawford, a former Marine combat engineer and Iraq war veteran who is now president of Kinetic Resolve, a force protection and mobility company that specializes in wheeled-class vehicles and armor applications. The Pentagon now needs to outline its requirements to industry and throw some seed money at smaller businesses that might already be working on such concepts in order to speed the process, he said.