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Through COMBATT program, military could end up leasing its light tactical vehicles; familiar vehicles get tough-guy makeovers

The U.S. military's huge light truck fleet is aging. Many of these vehicles are older than their drivers. It's estimated that by 2010, more than 78 percent of the Light Tactical Vehicle Fleet of High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) will be, in military parlance, overage.

The AM General HMMWV was originally designed in the early 1980s. After high production rates in the early years, there has been a low build rate and few improvements have been made to the basic design. With so many HMMWVs approaching their 20th year in service, updating the fleet is an absolute necessity But the army's budget has been so constrained that this is nearly impossible to purchase new HMMWVs in adequate numbers. While very capable -- and in fact more vehicle than is needed for many missions -- HMMWVs are relatively expensive to acquire and support.

As a result, the U.S. Army is looking at using modified commercial trucks as well as some rather "Innovative Acquisition and Ownership" strategies under its COMmercially BAsed Tactical Truck (COMBATT) program. This demonstration program, sponsored by the Army's National Automotive Center (NAC) in Warren, Mich., is managed by Veridian-ERIM International, Ann Arbor, Mich. DaimlerChrysler, Ford, and AM General are the key participants in the project. Recently, their COMBATT demonstration vehicles were displayed at the SAE Automotive Congress in Detroit.

While COMBATT is a U.S. Army program, its results, like the HMMWV program before it, would undoubtedly be used by all the military services as well as other government agencies that require serious off-road mobility. In the COMBATT program, commercial pickup trucks have been modified to perform tasks now assigned to the troop and cargo-carrying variants of the HMMWV. The army is also considering leasing rather than purchasing these vehicles. After three years on lease, the trucks would be returned to the OEMs, where they would be refurbished and then resold on the commercial market, where there is said to be no shortage of eager customers for severe-duty vehicles. Potential customers are logging and mining companies, rural fire fighters and foreign military organizations.

# posted by Medical Information : 4:49 AM