Future Combat System Manned Ground Vehicle
As of 2002 the Future Combat System (FCS) manned ground vehicle plan was for a family of approximately fifteen different combat vehicles based on a common platform that was compatible with transporting and fielding in a combat ready configuration on a C-130 military air transport without a transportation waiver restriction (except the NLOS, BLOS, and mortar vehicle which were expected to exceed the nominal 16 short ton weight). This limited the combat ready weight of each vehicle. Each vehicle was distinct when equipped and assembled with a unique mission module system consisting of a combination of carrier and/or ordnance systems. All components were based on an open system architecture and facilitate block upgrades spiral development throughout the life of the vehicle.
In January 2003 the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army announced the award of $36,044,000 to the Future Combat Systems (FCS) Lead Systems Integrator (Boeing/SAIC) to form an Integrated Design Team for the manned ground vehicle portion of the FCS program. General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Mich., and United Defense Limited Partnership, Arlington, Va., along with the Lead Systems Integrator, comprise the Integrated Design Team.
The Army determined that the design of manned ground vehicles for FCS should be initiated immediately in order to support the aggressive FCS timeline. The formation of the Integrated Design Team reduced schedule risk, and supported the Army's transformation through the additional months of design effort in preparation for the System Development and Demonstration stage, which commenced in May 2003.
The demanding FCS schedule required that the manned ground vehicle Integrated Design Team consist of industry partners with the expertise, skilled personnel and experience to immediately initiate the needed efforts. The Team will continue to conduct common design activities in an integrated product and process environment.
The Future Combat Systems Manned Ground Vehicles will have 75-80 percent commonality stemming from a common chassis and other common components. These common components include a lightweight band track and a hybrid-electric propulsion system, which maximizes power and fuel efficiency. The Manned Ground Vehicles will be at least as survivable as current Army vehicles and, in most likely operational scenarios, considerably more survivable and capable than anything now in the Army's inventory.
The FCS MGV platforms, reduced in number from 15 to 8 as of January 2005, share a common architecture that focuses on high performance, commonality, and reliability. They will be capable of being transported by C-130 aircraft. They will equipped with a variety of active and passive protection systems. High mobility is assured through the use of a hybrid-electric drive system, a fording and swim capability, run-flat tires, and an adjustable-height active suspension system.
It will be extremely difficult to achieve a family of vehicles that will weigh only 20 tons and has the lethality and survivability equivalent to the current heavy armored vehicular fleet. This goal will only be achieved by a combination of enhanced situational awareness, assured communications within a network centric force, and new technologies in the lethality and protection regimes. The 20 ton limit is set by the desire to make the vehicles transportable by C-130 aircraft. The challenge is great at the limit of 20 tons. It is even more daunting at lower weight limits for manned vehicles that live in the most dangerous zones of the battlespace. However, there are opportunities to apply a lighter and less survivable variant to robotic vehicles and to vehicles which operate outside the zone of maximum danger most of the time.
Ground contact pressure is roughly equivalent to the tire inflation pressure for wheeled tractors. Ground pressure is calculated as the weight of the tractor divided by the total contact area of the tires. Tracked vehicles may have an advantage in relation to contact pressure, because the weight of the tractor is distributed over a greater ground contact area. However, tracks do not necessarily share the load equally over the entire track. The load can be concentrated at the sprockets and idlers. The way in which the weight transfers under draft load will also influence the weight distribution over the length of the track, or to the rear tires, in the case of a wheeled tractor.
Reducing ground contact pressure is achieved by increasing the tire footprint (eg. low ground pressure tires, radials) or using tracks. There are evident difficulties operating wheeled vehicles, off-road, in desert conditions - highlighting the age-old tracked versus wheeled discussion. Liddell Hart was for many years the leading advocate of tracked versus wheeled transport vehicles and he believed that the German failure to heed this warning was one of the main reasons for their defeat in Russia.
The Non-Line of Sight Cannon (NLOS-C) is to be the first FCS MGV developed, with a prototype delivery date of 2008 and pre-production commencing in 2010.
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