Search Results

The utilization of commercially based technologies has the ability to greatly reduce the time and cost of military vehicle development. Commercially based technologies also enable the transition of a high level of capability into the military vehicle inventory and to the Army's ultimate customer, the soldier. The Army's National Automotive Center (NAC) has created SmarTruck, a light truck platform enhanced for military concept exploration. SmarTruck is outfitted with telematics, safety, and non-lethal weapon systems technology. It is a prime example of the NAC's central focus, which is dual-use commercial technology transfer. At the core of success for SmarTruck is the application of telematics technologies including embedded diagnostics, advanced electronic architectures, tele-maintenance, and wireless communications.

This paper will describe the Army's Vehicle Intelligence Program and discuss some of the VI technologies being considered for use within the Army's Tactical Wheeled Vehicle fleet. It will describe some initial modeling efforts that focus on the fuel efficiency impacts of selected VI technologies and will suggest the impacts of an integrated and networked fleet with regard to logistics. Lastly, it will identify several areas of AVIP research that are being considered in the near term. All of these programs impact directly on the 21st Century (21T) Truck program. [1]