Here I am, walking along amongst the Senate office buildings on Capitol Hill in the city of Washington, when what do I come up upon?
This CROWS was hard at work demonstrating its integrated capabilities to Congressional staffers.
Archive for the ‘Mobility’ Category
You Never Know What You’ll See on Capitol Hill
Wednesday, March 28th, 2012That’s a Grim Looking Panel
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
(Photo by SSG Marcus Butler, USASOC Public Affairs)
This photo shows (From left to right) NASCAR President Mike Helton, North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue, USASOC Commanding General Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland and Executive Director of the North Carolina Military Foundation Lance DeSpain. They were all together last week at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida to announce the historic partnership to make military vehicles safer for Special Operations Soldiers and to share innovations benefiting all parties involved.
It’s an interesting proposition. The NC ‘automotive’ industry aka NASCAR will share technical data with USASOC (and vice versa) that might assist the other. In my opinion, there may well be some safety technologies or TTPs that come out of this but considering the drastic difference between a GMVS and a highly modified sprint car, I wouldn’t expect much more. This just feels ‘gimmicky’.
Maybe that’s why everyone in the photo looks so unhappy to be there.
US Army CERV Video
Sunday, February 19th, 2012Here is some video shot by the US Army of their Clandestine Extended Range Vehicle (CERV) at the Chicago Auto Show.
The CERV is a diesel-electric hybrid prototype designed for reconnaissance, targeting and rescue missions.
Metolius Operational Equipment Preview
Friday, February 17th, 2012We are meeting later today with the Metolius rep. We thought we’d share with you the read ahead info he gave us. Both the Patriot and Tactical harnesses are Berry compliant.
Guardian Angel Air-Deployable Rescue Vehicle Pre-Solicitation Released (Again)
Thursday, February 16th, 2012About once a year, for the past few years the Air Force’s Battlefield Airman Branch of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB releases a new requirement for a battlefield truck for their Guardian Angel Weapon System. GAWS is made up of the Combat Rescue Officer (CRO), Pararescue (PJ), and SERE careerfields. Obviously, the vehicle would mainly be used by the PJs. Unfortunately, they’ve never actually purchased any vehicles. In fact, we’ve even written about one of the candidate vehicles from past attempts; the SRTV.
This year is no different and a pre-solicitation for the Guardian Angel Air-Deployable Rescue Vehicle (GAARV) was released last week. They’ve included a System Requirements Document (SRD) that spells out the vehicle characteristics they are looking for. According to this document, PJs currently rely on ATVs to aid in the recovery of Isolated Personnel who may be injured. Unfortunately, these have limited speed, agility, range and payload.
The proposed GAARV will be airdroppable from fixed wing aircraft and be able to carry medical, rescue, and survival equipment to an incident site and be able to exfiltrate the rescue team and isolated personnel over adverse terrain. It is envisioned that these same capabilities will make it a shoe in for use in disaster recovery and other humanitarian relief operations.
Specifically they want a vehicle that can be airdropped, features a comms and datalink package, integrates M240 and M249 for defense, capable of on and off-road operation and a minimum payload of 4000 lbs. It must also have mounts compatible with Stokes, Talon, Israeli, and NATO Pole litters. Obviously, as a rescue vehicle, it’s going to need external power outlets, an air compressor and a winch. Additionally, it must be able to travel 350 miles at 45 mph and then loiter for 2 hours once on the objective. Interestingly, there’s no mention of exfil meaning it’s got a 175 mile range.
There are also a couple of other “interesting” requirements such as:
“The GAARV shall be steerable and stoppable by at least one RT member other than the driver”
“The GAARV engine shall run using standard gasoline, 87 Octane or higher, diesel, or JP-8″
“The GAARV fuel tank shall not require a purge prior to adding a different type of fuel than is already in use”
Something you may feel is missing is an armor requirement. They haven’t quite worked out those requirements yet and understandably so. I used to be in the armored vehicle business and armor is anathema to the offroad agility capabilities required by GAWS.
Interested parties have until March 6 to tell the Air Force about their capabilities. Unfortunately, that leaves little time for the Air Force to integrate any ground breaking capabilities discovered in this pre-solicitation into their actual solicitation planned for release on 16 March.
The Air Force has done a lot to upgrade other rescue capabilities, hopefully this year, we’ll see them buy a new truck.
No MACC 2012?
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012Apparently, it seems that there will be no Multi-Agency Craft Conference this year. Held each year at Little creek Amphibious Base here in the Tidewater of Virginia by the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) in conjunction with NSWCCD Combatant Craft Division (CCD) MACC serves as a platform for the exchange of technical information regarding small craft.
But this year, budget concerns have delayed planning so much that ASNE has determined they cannot present MACC on base and have decided to put on an entirely new conference called High-Performance Craft Expo 2012 on the waterfront in Norfolk, Virginia. It will feature exhibits, in-water displays, vendor presentations, panel discussions and networking opportunities in addition to technical discussions and an opportunity for attendees to learn about and comment on plans for MACC 2013.
MACC is a bit of an institution and predates the current war so the fact that it fell through the cracks is a bit disconcerting. Especially with future defense initiatives focusing on SOF and the Pacific rim with its immense littoral challenge.
Army to Exhibit Clandestine Extended Range Vehicles at Chicago Auto Show
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
The Clandestine Extended Range Vehicle is a diesel electric hybrid built by Quantum in conjunction with the US Army’s Detroit-based Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) National Automotive Center (NAC). Funded by USSOCOM, the stealthy AWD buggy tops out at 80 MPH and can traverse 60% grades. Additionally, it is designed to fit in the CV-22.
The CERV kind of reminds me of a project I worked on in industry a few years ago. We called ours the Green Friendly Vehicle. What makes this even funnier to me is an Army statement about the TARDEC CERV, “Undoubtedly, these are some of the Army’s ‘greenest’ vehicles and the kind of technology that can meet our Nation’s energy security demands.” Yes, there should be a few groans from my readers.
USMC Seeking New Skis
Friday, February 3rd, 2012The US Marine Corps is looking to field a new military ski system consisting of Skis, Boots and Bindings. Oddly, MARCORSYSCOM has released three separate RFIs instead of a consolidated version. Considering they are all supposed to work together, this is a little silly. However, the biggest issue here is Berry compliance and I’d say the boots will be the most troublesome.
Right now, they are just performing “market research to seek potential sources and best practice information towards designing, developing, and buying components for a new Ski System.”
Interested parties have until 4:00 p.m. EST, on Thursday, March 15, 2012 to submit their response.
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