Dominant Logistics
Wheeled Support Vehicles and Systems
As outlined in other articles, the tactical side of the logistics equation should be supported by Tracked Support Vehicles as part of a Logistics Net. The Log Net will be fed by a series of log bases that are supported by the strategic support streams from our bases in the CONUS. The TSV is the ideal system for handling the tactical part of this exercise, but we need to also meet the needs of the strategic streams as well.
The typical strategic stream, whether it is a deployment or sustainment stream, will consist of three distinct sections where we take materials from their point of origin to a departure site, transport the materials by sea or air to an overseas support base, and finally move the materials from the support base to the log base. What we are concerned with here are the systems that support the first and final segments of the strategic streams. In many situations, these segments will be handled by air and in some cases (especially with the deployment stream), the unit itself will provide the means of support to meet the needs of these two segments of the streams.
But also need to retain low-cost effective options that can also meet these needs and this is where larger wheeled vehicles come into the mix. When it comes to moving large quantities of materials overland at the lowest possible cost, it is very difficult to beat large wheeled vehicles. But the military, in its not-so-infinite wisdom insists that virtually all trucks used in support missions be "tactical trucks." What this means is that nearly every truck in the military fleets is capable of operating off-road, whether it needs the capability or not. This means the trucks are all-wheel drive, have specialty off-road tires, and now the newer trucks feature a Central Tire Inflation System. All of this makes the trucks more expensive to buy, more expensive to maintain, more expensive to operate, and more prone to failure, and in reality, the gains in off-road capability are minimal at best. And because of this nonsense, we're still rebuilding and operating trucks from the 60s and 70s because we can't afford to replace them.
The Garrison Support Vehicle
To get the military back to a sustainable and affordable fleet, we need to start by defining a Garrison Support Vehicle (GSV). This vehicle is designed to meet the non-war missions performed by the truck fleet, which typically amounts to about 95% of the work these trucks do. This includes everything from movement of men and materials, support of training, line-haul support missions, and engineering support. The overwhelming majority of these missions involve transit by roads, paved or otherwise. Outside of combat, these missions do not require all the specialty off-road systems that we currently put into virtually every medium and heavy truck we buy. We also need to remember that more and more, war is becoming urban instead of rural meaning we will be required to be operating on roads anyways..
The GSV can be based off of virtually any existing civilian heavy truck design. With heavy trucks, you can typically order the powertrain combination of your choosing so we can retain a standardized powertrain for maintenance and parts commonality but use whatever truck chassis we choose and simply add the PLS hardware or fifth wheel to the truck chassis. As an example, we could select a 380/430hp Catepillar C-12 engine with an Eaton Autoshift 18-speed RoadRanger transmission and a set of Dana Spicer tandem rear axles with an Eaton Class 8 steer axle and put this in just about any heavy truck chassis on the market. The chassis may differ between the GSVs, but all of the common maintenance items will remain the same across the line while retaining the ability to perform in the wide variety of roles we want this truck to perform.
The GSV can be available in three versions. The first would include a PLS system that mounts a single tactical pallet or 20' strategic pallet along with a material handling crane. This would be the workhorse providing most of the day-to-day support needs of the force. The second version would be a PLS version with accompanying trailer (could use existing PLS trailer) to meet the bulk supply needs of the force. The final version should be a tractor version with a heavy duty fifth wheel that would serve as a line-haul tractor or as a HET towing the existing M1000 trailer. Another potential option is to use tridem rear axles (three drive axles in the rear) instead of tandems for a full HET system.
There are a number of key advantages to the GSV approach. First is that by using off-the-shelf commercial items, the vehicles will cost less to purchase and to operate. These vehicles could be purchased today without any up front development or testing costs. Second, we can use civilian maintenance companies to service and maintain the fleet. Any civilian heavy truck shop can perform just about any repair these vehicles would ever need and civilian shops are available pretty much worldwide to support this vehicle. Third is that by using commonly available commercial vehicles, we can operate the trucks for a set period and then resell them at a decent price to reduce the funding requirements for replacing trucks in the future. Instead of completely running these trucks into the ground as is current practice, we can run them for ten to fifteen years while they are still economical to operate and then sell them for between 25% and 50% of the cost of a replacement truck, depending on mileage and condition.
As mentioned, Garrison Support Vehicles can be purchased today, right now. There is no need for the continued purchasing and overhauling of the expensive legacy systems we currently operate. We can buy the GSVs and focus the savings towards development of the technologies need for Deployed Support Vehicles.
Deployed Support Vehicles
Deployed Support Vehicles, or DSVs, are the wheeled vehicles that handle our major trucking missions when deployed abroad. Unlike garrison vehicles, the DSVs will be required to be able to fully operate in off-road environments. Current vehicles that fall within the DSV category are the FMTV, the HEMTT, the PLS, and the HETS. The existing DSV fleets are becoming very expensive to maintain and to operate. This is primarily due to age and excessive use but it is also an inevitable result of being overly complicated. This becomes a concern with the planned reductions in the size of these fleets but can be overcome by the development of a unique new system for these vehicles.
The Common Drivetrain Module
The Common Drivetrain Module (CDM) is a module that can replace the drivetrains on existing medium and heavy trucks used within the military. With proper design, all DSVs would use the same modules allowing for lower development and operational costs. The CDM also enables us to affordably convert the DSV fleet to hybrid powertrains to reduce the fuel requirements of deployed forces. The module will consist of the following:
There will be very limited maintenance tasks on the CDMs as in most cases, the assembly will simply be removed and replaced with an overhauled exchange unit. Serious maintenance will be in the rear so we can save time and manpower in the operational sections. We may need different CDMs depending on chassis engineering needs for some vehicles but the major parts and functions will remain the same across all CDMs.
The CDM allows us to go with the following truck designs to meet the needs of the DSV fleet:
Medium Truck - A "3-axle" chassis that will use 6 CDMs giving the vehicle a maximum of 420hp. This could be based on existing FMTV or on a downsized HEMTT.
Amphibious Truck - The proverbial HEMTT Duck, this is a "4-axle" truck with a maximum of 560hp available. This is designed from the existing HEMTT.
Heavy Truck & Trailer - This is a CDM version of the existing PLS vehicle. It is a "5-axle" design featuring a maximum of 700 hp but by using the CDM we could also power the wheels on the trailer and go up to 1120 hp total.
Heavy Equipment Transporter - The CDM version of the existing HETS. Like the Duck, this is a "4-axle" vehicle with 560 hp.
Use of the CDM approach provides a number of characteristics that will be common to all of these vehicles. All wheels could be steerable on these vehicles providing dramatic improvements in maneuverability. All wheels can be driven but don't need to be giving the vehicles improved off-road capability while allowing for significantly improved fuel efficiency. The chassis designs will be greatly improved for off-road use with substantially more ground clearance than current vehicles, similar to the HMMWV. Also, this will give all of the DSVs fully independent suspension systems for further off-road performance gains.
The downside will be that the CDMs will be relatively expensive and will be taking a nasty beating during normal usage. We will be putting electric motors in conditions and environments where they have been proven to fail. It will take significant engineering work to make this concept viable for military use but the potential gains would be huge. Plus this is really the only viable approach to using a common drivetrain in all of the DSVs, a critical factor in keeping costs under control.
PLS and Other Trailers
The PLS trailer is designed to enable wheeled tractors and TSVs to operate and transport the 20ft pallets of existing PLS. The trailer includes it's own integrated PLS so that virtually any vehicle with a fifth wheel can handle the existing pallets. The current PLS truck and trailer combination is far too large and cumbersome for operations in many situations, especially urban areas where tight spaces are common. The current PLS vehicle is also more expensive to operate and maintain. Having a PLS trailer would allow us to have the advantages of the larger PLS pallets in a lower cost and more flexible system at the strategic level, particularly in CONUS.
The tractor version of the GSV also allows us to use trailers for some of the larger engineering tasks that are common to "nation building" operations. For example, large dump bodies and cement mixers are available as trailers and the GSV could transport and operate these without the need for purchasing these larger, limited use trucks. It also enables the GSV to pull trailers with larger quantities of bulk items including fuel and supplies as civilian trucking companies do currently.
Regular flatbed trailers could be used to transport larger quantities of the current and proposed tactical pallets for purposes of deployment. A single 40' trailer could easily carry two of the current pallets or three of the tactical pallets. Using a "lowboy" trailer, the GSV could also be a transporter for light and medium armored vehicles as well as other heavy equipment. With this combination, the GSV could carry two light armored vehicles like the M113A3 variants or one of the Bradley variants like the proposed medium tank. While this approach is more expensive than rail transport, it is also much quicker and flexible than rail options and it also streamlines our strategic logistics infrastructure by eliminating our reliance on rail for movement of mechanized forces.
Once the force is deployed, we can either continue to use GSVs if the situation allows or we can switch over to using the DSVs in these same support roles. TSVs handle the support missions at the tactical level.