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Because reliability is an integral part of military planning and has tremendous impact on operations and logistics, explicit reliability requirements have recently become part of many specifications used by the U.S. Army for procuring construction equipment. Reliability is discussed in the context of construction equipment, particularly the difficulty in obtaining data, defining failures, and the risks involved in demonstration tests. The successful application of reliability requirements in military specifications depends on a coordinated effort between industry and government working within commonly understood meanings of reliability and its ramifications.

A review of the U. S. Army concept for development of a Family of Military Engineer Construction Equipment (FAMECE) in light of basic problems facing the military engineer is presented. Problems evaluated are air and ground mobility, increased productivity, maintenance of unit integrity, and standardization of unit design. Although in the past the military attempted to develop lightweight, compact equipment which could be disassembled, such equipment did not perform to operational standards under field conditions. This led, however, to the FAMECE concept of a power module being utilized with a wide variety of work moduli. It addresses the problems of mobility, standardization, and logistics. At present, the program is well along in terms of conceptual design and is backed by several years of research and development efforts.

This paper presents a discussion of the Family of Military Engineer Equipment (FAMECE) and a new Army method, called validation prototyping, used to help in developing future equipment. The FAMECE system is described insofar as modules, intentions for use of the system,capabilities of the equipment, and projected reliability and maintainability features. FAMECE has progressed through the planning stages of the conceptual phase; the major part of this paper discusses future development of FAMECE.