Army Eyes 100 Mile-Per-Hour Battle-Buggies

The U.S. military is looking for light, high-speed four-wheelers that can zip troops around battlezones. And just about every major player in the defense industry -- including Blackwater -- is lining up to supply the vehicles.

Military vehicles have generally gotten heavier in recent years, to protect troops from roadside bombs and other threats. "The latest Humvee model, the M1151, weighs in at more than 5
tons, twice the weight of the original, unarmored M998," GovExec.com notes. "The military's new 'Mine-Resistant
Ambush-Protected' vehicle program is awarding contracts to build wheeled transports as heavy as 40 tons."

Dean Lockwood, a Forecast International analyst, tells Defense News, “With the way they have up-armored the Humvees, they are too heavy to do many of the missions they were originally intended to do.”
Moreover, he said, up-armored Humvees strain Army helicopters.

So "the U.S. Army, Marine Corps and Special Operations
Command may order thousands of rugged, high-tech, high-speed vehicles that can climb mountains, rescue fallen comrades and lead quick-strike as­sault teams in combat," Defense News' Kris Osborn reports. "Service officials are eyeing pro­totypes and early versions of sev­eral existing vehicles, including ones that can hit 100 mph on roads. [Army] engineers are also exploring individual technologies that may give vehicles the suspen­sion to handle rigorous terrain at high speed." (The picture, above, is of Chenoweth dune buggy strike vehicle, used by U.S. troops in the first Gulf War)

The
Marines’ vision for the new vehicles will likely be shaped by their experience with the Internally Transportable Vehicle (ITV), a
4,000-pound, 65-mph, four-wheel­drive open-cockpit vehicle. In development since 2004, it passed tests last year at Twentynine Palms,
Calif.; Camp Lejeune, N.C.; and Fort Greely, Alaska.
Made by
American Growler and General Dynamics, the $120,000 ITVs can carry a
2,000-pound pay­load and fire the Mk 19 grenade launcher, .50-caliber and M240 ma­chine guns...

The Corps, which will begin fielding the ITV this summer, envi­sions buying 699 through 2015. But that could change, especially if the joint effort with the Army bears fruit.
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The Army and Special Operations Command will soon look at
Black­water USA’s 100 mph Light Strike Vehicle. Still in the prototype stage, the 3,000-pound vehicle will have a 500-horsepower engine, 41-inch tires and a 2,500-pound payload.

“A vehicle with outstanding off­road capability and high axle articu­lation requires a compliant and loose suspension with maximum travel,” said Marty Strong, Blackwa­ter USA vice president of communi­cations. “These are the opposite characteristics required of a high­speed platform. Our suspension de­sign spans both worlds by offering high articulation and extreme off­road performance, while still main­taining great manners when travel­ing at speeds approaching
100 mph.”

*Another potential candidate for the program is the Tactical Au­tonomous
Chassis-Combat (TAC-C) vehicle, which is being designed to be driven by a soldier or pro­grammed to operate autonomously. Emerging from the
Army Re­search Lab in 2005, the 85 mph TAC-C has four-wheel independent suspension, can make tight turns and can drive diagonally. *

*“It was designed with a lot of the know-how that is typically incorpo­rated in the off-road racing circuit in order to handle high, rocky terrain,”
said Kevin Bonner, lead engineer at General Dynamics Robotic Systems.
SOCOM [Special Operations Command] wants a vehicle to handle weapons, reconnaissance and med­ical missions. They envision a 2,000 ­to
3,000-pound four-wheel-drive ve­hicle that can fly on a CH-47 [Chinook helicopter]. *