Up-Armored HMMWV
The Army started adding armor to its High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or “HMMWV,” years before Operation Iraqi Freedom, but attacks from small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and “improvised explosive devices,” or IEDs in military parlance, prompted the Army to place an urgent priority on shortening production schedules and beefing up protection for vehicles already in the field.
The land-mine hazards in Bosnia led the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) to contract with O’gara-Hess & Eisenhardt, a component of the Armor Holdings Company’s Mobile Security Division in Fairfield, Ohio, to produce armor for the “up-armored” M1114 HMMWV variant. The firm also developed armor for the M1116 and M1145 Air Force variants of the HMMWV, as well as armor kits for other vehicles and an armor kit that can be installed on the M998 A2 HMMWV.
The up-armored M1114 weighs about 2,000 pounds more than the standard HMMWV and includes 200-pound steel-plated doors, steel plating under the cab and several layers of bonded, ballistic-resistant glass to replace zip-up plastic windows.
Results of survivability subtests conducted on the HMMWV showed the following survivability features: the ballistic grill deflected several fragments and protected the radiator; the position of the radiator in the vehicle presents less of a target to detonation from the front (but not from aerial bursts); and the windshield was not penetrated. The ballistic fiberglass in the body appeared to offer little protection, while the windshield offered better protection. Tires remain the most vulnerable part of the vehicle. The standard tires on the vehicle are a run-flat type having a magnesium inner liner. There is no spare tire on the vehicle. Flats have been driven up to 20 km before failure. Up-armor kits have been developed for the HMMWV to improve ballistic protection and resistance to mine blast.
In response to peacekeeping missions, an up-armored HMMWV was developed to provide increased ballistic and blast protection, primarily for the Military Police (MP). In addition, the Project Manager (PM) developed a Scout HMMWV that is configured with a night vision device, a global positioning system, gun mounts, and Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems (SINCGARS).
O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt developed enhanced protection systems for multiple variants of the HMMWV to provide ballistic protection for doors, windows, roof and underbody areas. Chosen as the U.S Army's key supplier of Up-Armored High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) in 1993, O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring Company has applied its decades of experience in armoring vehicles to produce some of the most cost-effective and high performance armored light tactical vehicles in service today. In addition to increased armor protection, up-armored Humvees feature more rugged suspension systems able to handle the added weight and ballistic- resistant glass. They also include air conditioners that enable crews to operate with the windows up, even in stifling temperatures.
Much like the armored inserts in flak jackets saved Marines on the road to Baghdad during phase I of Operation Iraqi Freedom, in late 2003 the I Marine Expeditionary Force began investing in new armor to protect Marines in humvees against improvised explosive devices used by enemy fighters in Iraq. Moreover, 110 "hard armor" kits already had been ordered by the end of 2003. The on-order hard-armor kits are installed on humvees in Iraq. The armor, designed to be mounted on a M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, was installed by motor transportation Marines under supervision of technical representatives from O'Gara-Hess and Eisenhardt, the armor's manufacturer. Additional protection kits for HMMWVs include riot window protection screens and underbody protection from grenades.
With funding secured and contracting processes completed, by early 2004 the Army started to move ever-larger quantities of both armoring kits and newly built armored humvees into Iraq. By late January 2004 there were more than 2,000 armored humvees deployed in the Global War on Terrorism, and most of them are in Iraq. The company that manufactures humvees had almost finished building a new factory specifically for the armored version of the vehicle. By spring 2004, the manufacturer would be producing at approximately 220 armored Humvees per month. In addition to new vehicles, the Army also has contracts to purchase 6,000 armor kits that can be installed by Soldiers in Iraq. The kits are destined to upgrade not only many of the 8,000 conventional Humvees now in Iraq, but other vehicles as well, such as heavy transports and trucks used in convoy operations. The kits provide an added measure of protection from explosives devices for Soldiers.
When commanders did the initial Pre-Deployment Site Survey Iraq assessment in early 2004, it was thought that operations in Iraq needed 1,000 up-armored humvees. That would go ahead and beyond on the routes on the streets to go ahead and carry our soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen, as they did their daily patrols. As the enemy changed tactics and techniques, CENTCOM upped that number so that as of late April 2004 there were about 2,500 up-armored humvees in theater. When the enemy changed tactics, the commanders did their assessment and came forward with an additional requirement, that requirement was immediately put on contracts. The contractor was able to surge the production rate by a factor of three. There are approximately another 2,000 additional up-armored humvees on contract that were to flow in between April and in December 2004. At that point CENTCOM was to have approximately 4,500 up-armored humvees. There are also 8,000 up-armored kits installed, that protect windshields and doors of an additional 8,000 vehicles. Those are in addition to the up-armored humvees.
There are a lot of vehicles in Iraq that don’t leave the cantonment areas. Some of the bases and some of the log areas are extremely large, and these vehicles stay on the bases, moving inside the logistics areas. Those vehicles where there is no threat inside the compound, those do not need to be up-armored.
As a temporary stop-gap measure, the Army came up with the idea of add-on armor kits for HMMWVs. “Up armor” kits installed on the vulnerable M998 HMMWVs consist of armored doors with bullet-proof glass, side and rear armor plates, and a ballistic windshield. The kit enables the crew of a M998 to survive 7.62mm machine gun fire and IEDs. Engineers at the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Md., went to the drawing board to design the kits over a weekend. The Army field-tested them at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., to ensure they met strict ballistics protection standards. Even as the field tests were taking place, the Army started ordering the special steel and bullet-resistant glass needed to build the vehicles. That calculation proved to be decisive in moving the effort forward with unprecedented speed. Within six weeks of putting pen to paper to come up with a design, Motsek said the Army had the first kits in hand, ready for shipment to Iraq. In contrast, the normal procurement process takes five to seven years.
Following reports of almost daily RPG and IED attacks on Army vehicles in Iraq, engineers from the Research Development and Engineering Command began developing a modification kit in the summer of 2003 to provide better protection for standard production Humvees operating in Iraq. With design help from the Army Research Laboratory and testing from Maryland’s Aberdeen Proving Ground Test Center in October, the Armor Survivability Kit was born. The kit includes armored doors with ballistic-resistant windows and seatback protectors. It adds about 1,000 pounds to a standard Humvee giving better protection against the RPG and IED threat in Iraq. There are two ASK versions, one supporting a two-door Humvee and the other, a four-door Humvee. ASK is not intended to replace the original production model of the up-armored Humvee, but it is a means to provide greater survivability to Soldiers using a standard Humvee, officials said.
The Army also field tested prototype add-on armor kits from several contractors, ultimately settling on one produced by O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt.
Up-Armored HMMWVs provide level-one armor protection. Factory-produced, they provide all-around protection, both glass and on the armament on the side, front, rear, sides, top and bottom. "Add-on" up-armor kits, or level-two armor protection, are also factory-produced in the United States, and is installed on existing 'soft-skinned HMMWVs. However, "Add-on" up-armor kits only provide front, rear and sides, glass protection, while leaving the top and the bottom of the vehicles vulnerable. Level-three armor refers to the stop-gap measure use of steel plates that have been approved, and which are cut for vehicles, and then either welded or bolted on a vehicle. According to a December 9, 2004, DoD briefing, Army trucks used in the Iraq/Kuwait Theater of Operations and not HMMWVs were the main focus as of that date of level-three hardening.
One drawback of add-on armoring is the extra weight it adds to the vehicle which can run from about a 1,000 pounds all the way up to about 4,000 pounds of additional weight. The added weight puts added wear and tear on the modified vehicles whose engines, suspensions and transmissions were not originally designed to handle. There are some humvees that have beefy chassis; for example, that are designed to carry shelters. It is possible to put a larger weighted kit on top of there. This is the source of the various different kinds of armor kits. Also, there are troop carrier components for some humvees, and other humvees don't have that as their requirement.
As of late October 2004, Army employees at four depots, two arsenals and an ammunition plant (Letterkenny Army Depot, Pa; Anniston Army Depot, Ala.; Red River Army Depot, Texas; Sierra Army Depot, Calif.; Watervliet Arsenal, N.Y.; Rock Island Arsenal, Ill.; and Crane Ammunition Activity, Ind) were working three shifts a day, producing the Army-designed kits to keep up with demand. 8,800 add-on-armor kits had reportedly been produced, 8,700 of which had already been installed in vehicles in Iraq, while O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt has provided 289 more kits. The requirement, as of late October 2004, was for 13,872 kits.
In Kuwait, for 1st Cavalry Division HMMWVs being fitted with "up-armor"kits, the Army also bolted an M-6 machine gun mount in the bed.
As of late October 2004, nearly 5,100 up-armored Humvees were reported by DoD to have been delivered to Army and Marine Corps units in Iraq, with another 724 on ships bound for the theater. As of late October 2004, U.S. Central Command's requirement for up-armored Humvees called for 8,105 up-armored Humvees in Iraq. Prior to the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Army had only about 500 up-armored Humvees, called "UAHs," in its inventory. These were primarily used by military police units in their rear-protection role.
As of late November 2004 there was a CENTCOM validated requirement for 13,000 add-on armor kits, and 8,000 or so up-armored -- for a total of 21,000 in theater of the combination of the two. As of that date, there were 19,000, short by some few thousand of the total goal.
10 sites -- two in Kuwait, and eight sites in Iraq -- were, as of early december 2004, set-up to allow for add-on armor kits to be installed on existing unarmored vehicles.
FY 2004 and FY 2005 budgets funded the Up-Armored HMMWV Modernization effort. Technology advancements in both armor and ballistic glass materials had progressed to the point that improved ballistic protection is available that is lighter and less expensive. This effort has the potential to decrease the M1114 Up-Armored HMMWV's overall vehicle weight by up to 1000 lbs. thereby increasing user payload. An additional benefit is a potential reduction in vehicle Operation and Sustainment (O&S) costs related to the reduction in overall vehicle weight. This effort will also address a removable armor package that could potentially be used on a portion of the HMMWV fleet to increase ballistic and blast protection on non-protected vehicles.
