ArmorWorks unveiled the new Hyena combat vehicle yesterday at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference in Tampa, Florida. Designed using internal R&D (IRAD) funds, the Hyena isn’t built for any particular program but rather to a more generic set of requirements gleaned from interaction with the SOF community. We spoke with lead designer Kent Saucedo about the Hyena.
The vehicle finds its origins in the Fast Attack Vehicle class that was popular in the 80s and 90s which had its roots in the off-road racing community. At some point, conventional wisdom shifted to more traditional vehicle designs and with that came a lot of wasted space. Armor Works wanted to offer a vehicle with a 1:1 footprint offering every bit of the Hyena’s dimension as usable space. Additionally, the suspension is low in the vehicle in order to maintain a low Center of Gravity. Currently, the Hyena is powered by a turbo diesel but Armor Works is investigating alternative power packs for version 2.
As you can see from the photo the Hyena offers a combination of mobility, lethality, survivability and information dominance. What’s more, all of these systems work and aren’t some pie-in-the-sky concepts that will be developed only if funded.
The Hyena accommodates five personnel which include a driver, three crew in the middle compartment, seated three abreast as well as a rear facing crew position. There is also fittings to carry two litters. The entire crew is protected by a interconnected series of roll bars. All four passengers have access to weapons as well as access to the Hyena’s C4ISR system which includes a thermal camera. The Hyena is technology agnostic and a variety of collection and self-protection systems can be integrated into the frame. The center driver station is a drive-over-wheel design that offers the most visibility. Additionally, the dash rotates forward to accommodate ingress and egress.
It is a slow rock crawler designed to maneuver through rough washes and other debris strewn areas but can also accomplish sprints in excess of 80 mph in order to get you out of harm’s way in a hurry. Not shown is a trailer which will offer the Hyena a 1500 mile range due to its onboard stores of 50 gal of fuel, 50 gal of water, batteries and other storage.
The ver 2 offers a couple of upgrades that we are looking forward to seeing. For example, the middle crew seat will be pneumatic so that in the weapon station, the crewman remains strapped into his seat. Roll overs and other hazards have been considered in the design and the seat will collapse back into the vehicle. Additionally, a new composite monolithic hull tub is almost ready for production that is molded in a single piece in one of Armor Works’ giant autoclaves.
Of special note is the TactiCam random pattern3d camouflage applique. You may have seen photos of this on a Stryker at last year’s AUSA. It consists of randomly generated 3D geometric shapes and is designed to disrupt the vehicle’s planar surfaces with its combination of highlight and shadow areas. It has proven effective against daylight visual detection as well as ground radar, laser designators, thermal IR as well as EMI and RFI.
A V22 compatible version is in the works but will sacrifice one of the middle crew seats due to the narrow cabin space of the Osprey.
