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Problems associated with highly mobile military vehicles
Journal of Terramechanics, VoL 21, No. I. pp. 55-56, 1984. Printed in Great Britain.
0022--4898/8453.00+0.00 Pergamon Press Ltd. © 1984 [STVS
PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED W I T H H I G H L Y MOBILE MILITARY VEHICLES* ROBERTO FACCHINI~" As IN the past the Roman legionary obtained the maximum efficiency from t h e p i l u m and the scutum by the appropriate movements of his horse or running on foot, today not only is mobility a fundamental ingredient of the so-called 'tactical formula' (fire, mobility and protection) but it improves the efficacy of some other factors as well (whilst the opposite normally does not happen) by increasing exponentially the whole system's quality and effectiveness. Mobility, which we will now call 'tactic', consists therefore of taking a weapon or a logistic system and its crew to a particular area in the shortest time possible. But technicians would not be happy with this definition and so, historically, the term evolved. It changed from an empirical and intuitive concept to that of"probability o f ' n o go' of a vehicle" which is linked to the 'percentage of negotiable terrain' to end up with the latest definition of 'cumulative velocity' (within a certain area) which is determined by operations of weighted harmonic average. What I have said only means that a military vehicle should not be a 'tout-court' off-road vehicle, it must be a highly mobile vehicle on a wide range of soils and environments. It has to be conditioned by the offensive-defensive factors (weapon-armour) in conjunction with the operative use, which we call the 'system mission'. In real terms, what does this mean and to what extent does it affect the manufacture's point of view? It requires assemblies and devices on board of an extreme complexity and variety. Just as an example, not only 1 will mention those elements which are typical for an offroad vehicle such as: ground pressure; geometric shape; visibility; power/weight ratio; antivibrating suspension; maximum adherence utilization; self-rescue possibility, etc., but those which are mostly specifically associated with the military requirements as well, such as: fording and wading capability; navigability; airborne and parachuting capability; auxiliary power supply; cabin pressurization; NBC protection and decontamination; passive and active IR and IL antidetection; electromagnetic compatibility with radio-radar systems; ballistic and indirect protection; ergonometric optimization, etc. as well as particular arrangements for the specific system being transported. All this must be considered together with very high RAM characteristics not only because of motives of economy, but also for safety and operational reasons. Clearly such vehicles have little in common with
*Paper presented at the 2nd European Conference of the International Society for Terrain-Vehicle Systems, Ferrara, Italy, 3-5 October 1983. tMOTORDIFE, Via Marsala, 104-00100, Rome, Italy. 55
56
ROBERTO FACCHINI
civil~ commercial vehicles except in some exceptional cases. So, what could possibly be the contact point between defence and industry'? My point of view is that it should be essentially found in the applied research, in technical development finalized to a precise and concrete objective for scientific interest and technological innovations. These subjects will determine the future, the mutual destiny of our countries. With this aspect in mind, coincidental interests impose a joint or, at least, coordinated effort either under financial or technical terms. But together with tactical mobility', servicemen have a second but no less important need for mobility: logistic transport. For centuries, the soldier has not been finding what he needs to live and to fight ~here he was. So it must be taken to him. Nowadays a Division or a Brigade needs, by means of transport through road networks, some thousands of tons of material per day for distances spanning from 20 to 500 km (range) depending upon the logistic echelon and the type of Unit to be supplied and its operational tasks. Logistic mobility will have to consider the "transport moment', that is to maximize the product of the payload capability by the average obtainable speed. Since any transporter has the same goal, the military and the civilian requirements tend to coincide apart from some operational restrictions (like safety on route) or transport for specific materials as explosives and ammunitions. Keeping in mind 'hybrid' Army vehicles which would meet either tactical or logistical requirements for their intermediate characteristics, it should be said that for logistical transport vehicles the following parameters are particularly important: reliability, maintainability and availability. In fact, leaving aside the operative implications for the whole fleet of vehicles and for the Services, the minimum cost/efficacy ratio must be looked for, so to use, in the best way, what the country and the taxpayers place at our disposal.
0022--4898/8453.00+0.00 Pergamon Press Ltd. © 1984 [STVS
PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED W I T H H I G H L Y MOBILE MILITARY VEHICLES* ROBERTO FACCHINI~" As IN the past the Roman legionary obtained the maximum efficiency from t h e p i l u m and the scutum by the appropriate movements of his horse or running on foot, today not only is mobility a fundamental ingredient of the so-called 'tactical formula' (fire, mobility and protection) but it improves the efficacy of some other factors as well (whilst the opposite normally does not happen) by increasing exponentially the whole system's quality and effectiveness. Mobility, which we will now call 'tactic', consists therefore of taking a weapon or a logistic system and its crew to a particular area in the shortest time possible. But technicians would not be happy with this definition and so, historically, the term evolved. It changed from an empirical and intuitive concept to that of"probability o f ' n o go' of a vehicle" which is linked to the 'percentage of negotiable terrain' to end up with the latest definition of 'cumulative velocity' (within a certain area) which is determined by operations of weighted harmonic average. What I have said only means that a military vehicle should not be a 'tout-court' off-road vehicle, it must be a highly mobile vehicle on a wide range of soils and environments. It has to be conditioned by the offensive-defensive factors (weapon-armour) in conjunction with the operative use, which we call the 'system mission'. In real terms, what does this mean and to what extent does it affect the manufacture's point of view? It requires assemblies and devices on board of an extreme complexity and variety. Just as an example, not only 1 will mention those elements which are typical for an offroad vehicle such as: ground pressure; geometric shape; visibility; power/weight ratio; antivibrating suspension; maximum adherence utilization; self-rescue possibility, etc., but those which are mostly specifically associated with the military requirements as well, such as: fording and wading capability; navigability; airborne and parachuting capability; auxiliary power supply; cabin pressurization; NBC protection and decontamination; passive and active IR and IL antidetection; electromagnetic compatibility with radio-radar systems; ballistic and indirect protection; ergonometric optimization, etc. as well as particular arrangements for the specific system being transported. All this must be considered together with very high RAM characteristics not only because of motives of economy, but also for safety and operational reasons. Clearly such vehicles have little in common with
*Paper presented at the 2nd European Conference of the International Society for Terrain-Vehicle Systems, Ferrara, Italy, 3-5 October 1983. tMOTORDIFE, Via Marsala, 104-00100, Rome, Italy. 55
56
ROBERTO FACCHINI
civil~ commercial vehicles except in some exceptional cases. So, what could possibly be the contact point between defence and industry'? My point of view is that it should be essentially found in the applied research, in technical development finalized to a precise and concrete objective for scientific interest and technological innovations. These subjects will determine the future, the mutual destiny of our countries. With this aspect in mind, coincidental interests impose a joint or, at least, coordinated effort either under financial or technical terms. But together with tactical mobility', servicemen have a second but no less important need for mobility: logistic transport. For centuries, the soldier has not been finding what he needs to live and to fight ~here he was. So it must be taken to him. Nowadays a Division or a Brigade needs, by means of transport through road networks, some thousands of tons of material per day for distances spanning from 20 to 500 km (range) depending upon the logistic echelon and the type of Unit to be supplied and its operational tasks. Logistic mobility will have to consider the "transport moment', that is to maximize the product of the payload capability by the average obtainable speed. Since any transporter has the same goal, the military and the civilian requirements tend to coincide apart from some operational restrictions (like safety on route) or transport for specific materials as explosives and ammunitions. Keeping in mind 'hybrid' Army vehicles which would meet either tactical or logistical requirements for their intermediate characteristics, it should be said that for logistical transport vehicles the following parameters are particularly important: reliability, maintainability and availability. In fact, leaving aside the operative implications for the whole fleet of vehicles and for the Services, the minimum cost/efficacy ratio must be looked for, so to use, in the best way, what the country and the taxpayers place at our disposal.