The Pentagon’s evolving responsibilities for homeland defense
could accelerate demand for customized vehicles, such as pick-up
trucks and SUVs, equipped with advanced sensors, ballistic protection
and a wide array of weapons.
As the military services discern their specific roles in domestic
security, agencies that develop vehicle technologies, such as the
Army’s National Automotive Center, see emerging opportunities
to bring their technology to the forefront. The NAC is a government
organization, but works mostly with commercial automotive and electronics
industries, seeking and testing technologies that potentially could
have military utility.
NAC officials expect that the expanding military involvement in
homeland defense could result in new requirements for sturdy light
trucks and SUVs equipped with high-tech gear and non-lethal weapons.
About a year ago, the NAC, based in Detroit, unveiled the so-called
Smart Truck, a Ford F-350 vehicle, designed to be a test bed for
vehicle-intelligence technologies—ranging from multimedia
computers and electronics to laser weapons, wireless communications
and non-lethal countermeasures against assai-lants or suspected
terrorists.
The Smart Truck initially was mocked by some military insiders
as being "too Hollywood" for the type of duties normally
associated with military operations. But now that the homeland defense
mission has gained prominence, there is a growing acceptance of
the Smart Truck as a potential source of useful technologies for
military and law-enforcement vehicles.
"When we came up with the concept, it was designed with a
urban warfare mission in mind," said Germaine Fuller, project
manager for the Smart Truck. Because the Army increasingly had become
involved in peacekeeping operations, the NAC sought to develop a
vehicle that could blend into urban settings, and could provide
some lethality and reconnaissance capability, without looking "too
military," Fuller said in an interview.
A similar rationale could apply to domestic security missions in
the United States, where military troops or law-enforcement agents
may want to operate incognito, in a vehicle that looks like a regular
truck.
The NAC believes that there is a homeland defense application for
the Smart Truck, said Fuller. "We are looking at the possibilities
at how we can help." Several intelligence and law-enforcement
agencies, she said, have expressed "tremendous interest."
The Smart Truck is one of two complementary programs that the NAC
hopes will lead the way toward a new light tactical truck for the
U.S. Army and other military services. The second program is called
the commercially-based tactical truck, or Combatt.
The Combatt and the Smart Truck programs are "brother and
sister," said Fuller. "Our vision is to combine the successes
of each program and come up with one platform."
Unlike Smart Truck, the Combatt is more focused on vehicle mobility,
ruggedness for off-road operation and the use of hybrid-electric
propulsion systems, for higher fuel efficiency.
There are several types of trucks participating in the Combatt
program: a Ford F-350, a Dodge Ram 3500, a GM Silverado and an AM
General Humvee. The popular Humvee is the mainstay of the current
fleet of light tactical trucks. The commercial vehicles essentially
are being upgraded with after-market products in an effort to achieve
Humvee-like performance. The NAC is testing the Combatt trucks,
trying to convince the Army that commercial vehicles could prove
to be a worthwhile addition to the fleet.
The feedback from military customers has been positive, Fuller
said. "They like the concept and some of the individual technologies,"
even though they would like the vehicle to be more rugged.
If needed, "these systems could be ruggedized," she said.
"The Combatt program proves that." In the next phase of
the Smart Truck project, she said, the NAC will produce three vehicles
that users can test informally, "so we can get feedback and
tweak the design."
At the NAC, said Fuller, "We try to build Army requirements
into the development cycle of commercial products, upfront—so
we can receive cutting-edge technology at a cheaper price and with
a shorter development cycle."
Among the most challenging technical endeavors in the Smart Truck
is the integration of various data-buses used in the automotive
industry today, Fuller explained. The goal is to make it possible
for each vehicle to transmit and receive diagnostics data and to
allow commanders to monitor the status of the fleet in real time.
Some of the technologies in the Smart Truck include:
Electronics Integration
The tight packaging of the electronics is the "most impressive
achievement" in the Smart Truck, said John D. Weaver, vice
president of engineering at Ibis Tek, a Michigan company that makes
customized security vehicles.
When compared to traditional tactical wheeled vehicle requirements,
"homeland defense is a different animal," Weaver said
in an interview. Specific missions have yet to be defined, he said,
"but you can see missions everywhere, from VIP escorts to border
patrol, securing areas like the World Trace Center site."
The Defense Department and other agencies, Weaver said, "are
still trying to define what additional types of vehicles may be
required to support the broad homeland defense concept." The
technologies in Combatt and Smart Truck, he said, "could be
incorporated in a fleet of homeland defense vehicles."
Ibis Tek makes the Cobra and Viper vehicles, which are sold to
undisclosed Middle Eastern governments for their security forces.
Like the Smart Truck, Cobra and Viper rely on commercial SUVs and
pick-up trucks as the basic platform. But they come with significant
more firepower, in the form of a .50 caliber machine gun or any
other weapon that a customer wants to mount, Weaver said.
The Cobra platform is the Chevrolet Suburban while the Viper uses
a GMC truck. Ibis Tek currently is working with General Motors’
military vehicles division to explore the possibility of incorporating
the Viper system into GM’s version of Combatt. The idea, said
Weaver, is to offer it as an option to "customers who would
want a more robust product."
The technology in Viper also could be integrated with a Humvee,
said Weaver. "We are an after-market integrator, for any vehicle."
The Cobra and Viper are used as VIP escort and patrol vehicles
in the Middle East, he said. "They are part of convoys for
government officials." The Viper was displayed last year at
the Defense Department’s Force Protection Demonstration, an
exhibition of security-related technologies. It was presented as
a vehicle that meets military requirements for peacekeeping missions
and unconventional combat situations, when troops need to have enough
weaponry to respond to hostile fire while blending in with a city
or rural environment.
Weaver speculated that vehicles such as Cobra and Viper would be
"overkill" for U.S. domestic security operations, given
the devastating firepower of a .50 caliber machine gun.
He is not sure that even the U.S. Army would ever choose to buy
such a vehicle. "It goes back to the old mentality," said
Weaver, who used to manage the Army’s light tactical truck
program in the 1980s. He recalled that, when his office pushed for
the addition of armor protection to the Humvee, some Army leaders
initially balked. "When we up-armored the Humvee, there was
a lot of resistance," because of the cost, Weaver said. The
"old mentality" thinking was that, "if you need that
kind of protection, you should have a tracked vehicle or an LAV
[light armored vehicle]." In the end, "we proved that
the up-armored Humvee has a mission."
Vehicles such as Cobra and Viper are a drastic departure from tradition,
he said. They put a precision weapon on top of a commercial vehicle.
"People right now don’t view a commercial vehicle as
a platform to put that kind of system on."
Depending on options and customized features, a Viper can cost
up to $350,000 or $450,000, said Weaver. The single most expensive
item is a stabilized remote-fire weapons station mount.
The weapons station, made by Recon Optical, uses a precision gimbal
mount. It integrates a weapon, sensor package and ammunition, all
operated from a remote control panel located inside the vehicle.
The mount can accommodate the .50 caliber and 7.62 mm machine guns
and the 40 mm grenade launcher. There are plans to integrate other
weapons, such as the tube-launched optically-tracked wire guided
missiles, 2.75-inch rockets and Stinger air-defense missiles
The weapons station also includes night-vision sensors, a laser
range-finder and a fire-control computer to help target moving vehicles.
An electro-hydraulic deployment system raises and stabilizes the
weapons station to the firing position. The raising and lowering
of the weapons, as well as the firing are controlled from the station.
The control panel includes a 12.7-inch flat-screen panel display
and a joystick. The ballistic computer is contained within the control
panel. The type of weapon and ammunition being used is fed into
the computer via menu-driven controls.