AUSA 2014: Ultra-light vehicles to take centre stage
Light vehicles will be one of the highlights at the AUSA Annual exhibition as the army starts to focus its attention of air deployable forces.
At the Manoeuver Conference in September, the US Army’s Manoeuvre Center unveiled its concept for three vehicle types to fill the needs of this new airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT).
The concept has been in the works at the Manoeuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning and the feasibility of such a unit was demonstrated in trials held earlier at the centre.
The objective is to organize an infantry unit that can be quickly air transported anywhere in the world to respond to a crisis, Unlike current traditional airborne units, this brigade will have high ground mobility and combat power that will be provided by organic wheeled vehicles. These vehicles will be lighter and more transportable than current standard vehicles including helicopter transportability.
Col Rocky Kmiecik, director of the Mounted Requirements Division said that these are envisioned as the ULCV (Ultra Light Combat Vehicle), LRV (Light Reconnaissance Vehicle), and MPF (Mobile Protected Firepower).
The ULCV would be essentially a nine-man squad troop carrier, the LRV a reconnaissance team carrier and the MPF an armoured fire support vehicle. The idea is for units of the three to operate together supporting a rapid force manoeuver from an airhead to an objective.
These requirements are similar to those for which SOCOM awarded a contract for its Ground Mobility Vehicle GMV 1.1.
A number of industry contenders have already presented their solutions, such as GD-OTS and Polaris, and it is certain that this program will have broad attention with the likes of Boeing, Oshkosh and others expected to display candidates for this expeditionary force.
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