Use of Lightweight Materials in 21st Century Army Trucks (2003) / Chapter Skim
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3. Enabling New Technology Insertion
3. Enabling New Technology Insertion
Pages 55-72
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From page 55... ...
Infrastructure costs inhibit change. Changes in materials systems in Army trucks will require many other adjustments downstream—for example, changes in maintenance practices including service and repair.
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From page 56... ...
Decreased R&D funding, combined with reduced direct funding for Army trucks, will make it difficult for the future Army truck fleet to achieve world-class capability. At current funding levels, the truck fleet will continue to degrade at a significant rate.
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From page 57... ...
Most contracts for new Army trucks call for low production volumes compared with those for commercial products. Because of the difficulty in recovering the costs of low-volume production without setting high prices, many high-volume vehicle manufacturers have withdrawn from bidding on military contracts, resulting in a reduction in the competitive field.
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From page 58... ...
An important step toward enabling the introduction of those materials is to set more aggressive fuel requirements, with goals for individual vehicle types being determined from an overall fleet strategy. Improved engine efficiency alone is not likely to enable the truck fleet to meet the logistic footprint goals set by the Revolution in Military Logistics initiative.
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From page 59... ...
Military vehicles have long service lives, often on the order of 20 years. As a result, actual total life-cycle costs include substantial operations and support (O&S)
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From page 60... ...
The suppliers for medium and heavy trucks have been specialty vehicle manufacturers and defense contractors with dedicated manufacturing and assembly lines. Stewart and Stevenson is the primary source of the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FM1Vy, and Oshkosh Truck Corporation is the primary source of heavy tactical vehicles.
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From page 61... ...
Spare parts may be purchased from commercial suppliers, but these transactions are generally separate from the original procurement. Furthermore, warranties covering material defects rarely extend beyond the first year, and, given the harsh conditions that Army trucks are subjected to, warranties are limited by design.
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From page 62... ...
Economic and Military Useful Life of Army Trucks. Presentation to the committee, May 9, 2002.
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From page 63... ...
By aggressively retiring vehicles with marginal reliability and performance, significant O&S cost savings could be realized and used to finance additional modernization and rebuilding or remanufacturing programs. Alternative Ownership Strategies The remanufacturing program in place with Oshkosh Truck Corporation is an innovative effort to extract beKer value from the used truck fleet by remanufacturing these trucks to as-new condition.
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From page 64... ...
Military vehicles have a longer life cycle and can therefore reap more benefits from performance and efficiency upgrades. Upgrading and retrofitting are enabled if a vehicle is designed with flexibility, allowing major vehicle components and subsystems to be replaced with improved ones.
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From page 65... ...
Some commercial vehicle manufacturers are currently able to switch model builds on the same production line without stopping the line for retooling. The Army has already used component standardization in some truck models—for example, with the use of Steyr Symatec truck cabs from Austria.
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From page 66... ...
The insertion of new lightweight materials could be enhanced by the standardization of military vehicle components with commercial components and assembly practices. The Army would thus be able to take advantage of technological advances resulting from the multiple design cycles of commercial vehicle manufacturers.
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From page 67... ...
Use of the hybrid electric powertrain reduces two important sources of Inefficiency in engine-based transportation: the need to use an engine that is oversized for the average duty cycle of the application, and the transient operation of the internal combustion engine caused by the drive-wheel speed and the traction effort required. In addition, hybrid electric powertrains allow auxiliary systems and accessories to be decoupled from the engine, permitting their use on demand and increasing overall efficiency.
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From page 68... ...
. There are significant barriers to be overcome, however, including overall performance limits, cost, fuel availability and onboard storage, and lack of infrastructure.20 For military applications, fuel cells will not be a viable primary power alternative for many years to come.
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From page 69... ...
These codes and standards would help prevent duplication of R&D, as well as avoiding the dilution of limited supplier resources and capabilities by focusing them on aspects important to achieve battlefield dominance and mobility. Knowledge spillovers from joint government-andindustry-supported R&D programs are critical in accelerating the transfer of emerging advanced materials technologies to the Army truck fleet.22 Ongoing programs through which the Army can leverage new technologies into truck platforms include the R&D in progress in other military services, commercial automotive partnerships, industry-university consortia, and cross-industry collaborative programs.
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From page 70... ...
in 1996 to address the energy-efficiency challenges facing manufacturers, suppliers, and users of heavy transport vehicles. The office works with industry partners and their suppliers to research and develop technologies that make heavy vehicles more energy-efficient and able to use alternative fuels while reducing vehicle emissions.
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From page 71... ...
The goals of the partnership are to improve fuel efficiency, enhance safety, reduce operating and ownership costs, lower emissions, and maintain or enhance performance. The partnership has a thrust area for advanced materials and plans for an integrated approach to R&D on hybrid electric powertrains for commercial and military applications.
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From page 72... ...
It focuses on the use of high-strength steels, laser-welded blanks, and improved bonding to significantly reduce the weight of the Ford F-series for potential military applications. Ford's P2000 lightweight vehicle platform uses aluminum extensively for major components such as the body and frame, as well as carbon fiber, magnesium, and titanium for a variety of parts.
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