Long Haul Heavies -- Logistic Trucks.

They are big, heavy and they make their presence felt. They can go almost anywhere, round the clock and over long distances. They can be very expensive, both in unit and running costs. They are the heavyweights of the truck world without which armed forces cannot function. They are the military logistic trucks with load carrying capacities from five tonnes upwards.

For all their attributes, logistic trucks somehow manage to get overlooked in terms of essential items of equipment -- that is until the shooting starts. They are then transformed from vehicle park space-fillers into vital military assets carrying the myriad military supplies without which any armed force cannot operate for long. Logistic truck loads have to be carried to wherever they are wanted, whenever they are needed and always at the highest possible speed.

History has repeatedly demonstrated that there can never be enough trucks at a commander's disposal. When called upon in earnest, logistic trucks are expected to cover huge distances over all manner of ground, from hard roads to rough terrain, and for prolonged periods that will take them well past their essential maintenance intervals, all without breaking down. They have to endure the ministrations of poorly trained or tired drivers and suffer the stresses inflicted by excessive payload weights and awkward loads. Fuel consumption has to be kept to a reasonable level or potential payloads will suffer to the extent that the carrier could consume much of its own load capacity. Yet they have to supply all this reliably and economically while imposing the minimum possible overall financial burden for constrained military budgets.

To supply any vehicle with such a list of `must haves' is quite a challenge, yet one constantly met by truck manufacturers although, it has to be said, with varying degrees of success. In theory, producing the ideal military logistic truck can be achieved by any manufacturer. The specifications are well understood, the technical solutions are nearly all at hand, and suitable power packs and other components are readily available. After all, long haul logistic carriers are the backbone of every nation's commercial supply infrastructure -- but inevitably, it boils down to the problem of cost.

Commercials

There are few nations that can supply sufficient all-singing, all-dancing logistic trucks that could meet all possible demands and conditions likely to be encountered. It should come as no surprise that the simple reason is cost. To manufacture, supply and maintain the perfect military logistic truck has to be a very expensive exercise, as many military procurement executives have discovered in the past. That perfect military truck just does not exist. Somehow a balance has to be reached between costs, capabilities, load carrying capacity, fuel consumption and reliability. To add to these, the modern logistic truck has to acknowledge the numerous peace-time environmental legislation constraints now widely imposed, such as exhaust emission levels, axle load limitations, and so on. Of all these demands, cost is almost always the critical factor.

One of the most demanding of military specifications has to be the capability to travel long distances over rough terrain. This usually rules out the everyday commercial load carriers. Few of them are built to withstand traversing anything more demanding than made-up road surfaces. Once off those roads, for other than very brief forays, their wheels, chassis, drive trains and suspensions will not be up to the demands made upon them. Yet nearly every military vehicle fleet extant contains numbers of commercial load-carriers painted olive green, sandy brown, or whatever.

Logistic vehicles can be readily divided into two working categories. One category is that of the heavy, long haul from base or depot to the forward area, travelling over an existing road infrastructure. That can be readily assumed by suitably equipped and strengthened commercial truck models. Such vehicles will only rarely be called upon to operate away from hard surfaces so all-terrain demands on them will be few.

For most commercial truck models, the unit and running costs are modest compared to their forward area equivalents so many armed forces conserve what limited funds they might have at their disposal by procuring a proportion of their logistic fleets with slightly-modified commercial vehicles painted with military finishes. During times of peace, such vehicles can always be kept busy by usefully and economically supplying the day-to-day needs of any armed force.

Forward Area

By contrast, the forward area logistic vehicle is a much more capable and specialised proposition. The all-terrain factor has already been stressed. Forward area vehicles are constructed accordingly. They may well be called upon to negotiate water obstacles in areas where bridges are few, so a wading capability is usually an extra essential. To add an amphibious capability as well usually raises overall costs to such an extent that highly specialised vehicles have to be introduced. There are few of them and they fall into a separate category.

Agility, Armouring, Air Transportability

The forward area logistic vehicle has to be fairly agile. For at least a portion of its supply mission it will probably have to operate under fire, so a good speed performance over rough ground will be a definite asset when the shooting starts. Such performance demands when carrying heavy loads requires plenty of fuel-consuming power, although that should be already on hand due to the all-terrain crossing performance requirements (one recent innovation to provide crew protection under incoming fire situations is the armoured cab; they are now becoming widely regarded as essential for forward area missions).

Air transport is another factor to be borne in mind regarding forward area trucks. When they are needed they will be needed urgently so the vehicles involved should be air transportable, albeit that only the heavy lifters will be capable of carrying what are often high volume loads. A capability to lower the overall height or somehow reduce overall bulk for airborne journeys would be a great advantage. One further detail is that forward control cabs are an advantage when manoeuvring in confined areas or when crossing narrow military bridges.

From just these few outlines it becomes apparent that the forward area logistic truck is a much more purpose-built vehicle than its commercial counterpart, so the costs escalate accordingly. Forward area vehicles also usually need more care and maintenance than their rear area equivalents. To add to their cost disadvantages, forward area trucks have few viable peacetime roles, other than during civil emergencies where they could have numerous functions that other load carriers just could not fulfil.

Combined

The idea of having two categories of logistic truck sounds attractive unless two further factors are considered. One is that military supplies are always needed in a great hurry. The second is that making load transfers from rear area to forward area trucks requires commodities that are scarce in military situations, namely time, manpower and resources. The latter can vary from physical limitations, such as finding suitable safe areas for the transfers, to the provisional requirements for cranes or other materiel handling equipment.

LHS

In an ideal world, supplies could be transported directly from the depot, railhead or port to the forward area using only one type of truck. For many military users such an ideal is one that could rarely be met, as always for the cost reasons outlined above. However, some form of compromise can be adopted following the introduction of load handling systems (LHS).

The LHS, and the Partek Cargotec Multilift LHS in particular, has made considerable inroads into the military logistic scene over recent years. Carried by specialised vehicles or modified civilian trucks, an LHS can be loaded at a port, railhead or depot and driven to a user-accessible point close to the forward area. The supplies involved, whatever they might be, are pre-loaded on a flatrack at the depot or even further back down the logistic chain. A single operator, usually the driver, is all that is needed to load and unload the supplies involved. Up to fifteen or sixteen tonnes can be carried on a single flatrack.

The supply speed and economy that the LHS can provide have been realised by many armed forces, with more seemingly adopting them as each year passes. The British Army was one of the first to introduce the Multilift Mark 4 LHS for their Demountable Rack Off-load and Pick-up System (Drops), their first carrier being a Leyland Trucks 8 x 8 chassis with a cross country performance in the Medium Mobility Load Class (MMLC), sufficient for all but the roughest country. To accompany the Drops vehicle, the British Army also uses a Foden 8 x 6 chassis, some of which are in the more capable Improved Medium Mobility Load Class (IMMLC). Most of the fleet of over 400 Fodens are dedicated to supplying the Royal Artillery's AS90 batteries with ammunition. Both vehicles can carry 15 tonnes on flatracks and both are often used from depot to forward position supply missions. About 24 of the Leyland vehicles have side-loading arms for transferring flatrack loads directly from a railway wagon and onto a Drops vehicle, further speeding supply operations.

The US Army adopted the same Multilift LHS for their Palletised Load System (PLS), this time carried on the huge Oshkosh M1074/M1075 10 x 10 chassis, the M1074 having a material handling crane in addition to the LHS. This formidable vehicle still carries a single PLS flatrack similar to that of the Drops but with the option of carrying another flatrack on a towed M1067 trailer. As would be expected from a name like Oshkosh, the PLS vehicle/trailer combination can travel long distances while retaining a good cross-country performance. The US Army has well over 2500 examples of this vehicle with just over 1000 trailers.

Needless to say, the costs involved have been high -- the initial contract alone was for $860 million. While the M1074/M1075 can do everything asked of it, an alternative is now being sought, one prospect being another Oshkosh product, the 8 x 8 XM1120 on the Hemtt chassis, more of which later.

Multilift LHS has been adopted by many other nations on a wide variety of chassis, including Astra (Italy), Scania (Norway and Sweden), Tatra (Czech Republic) and Kenworth (Canada), to name but a few. Some of these chassis are based on commercial models but examples such as the Tatra are military vehicles of high quality.

Biggies

Having mentioned Tatra, the LHS variant is based on an 8 x 8 chassis with a remarkable cross country performance thanks to its independent suspension and swinging axles. Numerous types of body can be carried but a typical straightforward cargo carrier has a cross-country payload of 11.1 tonnes. The market attractions of Tatra trucks, also produced in 6 x 6 and 4 x 4 versions, have further increased with the introduction of the T816 series powered by a choice of European or American diesel engines and other drive components with Western origins. Over 1100 Tatra T816s were purchased by the United Arab Emirates and there have been many other customers.

Oshkosh has already been mentioned in connection with PLS but the 8 x 8 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (Hemtt) form the backbone of the US Army's heavy logistic truck fleet. Quite apart from their high mobility and long haul attributes, the base M977 Hemtt carries a self-loading/unloading crane at the rear, always a great advantage when heavy loads have to be handled rapidly. The Hemtt has become something of a maid of all work from the US Army as engineer variants, carrying bridge modules, are in service along with tankers, wreckers and several others.

While in Oshkosh territory, mention must be made of their 6 x 6 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR). This brute of a truck was originally developed for the US Marine Corps as they have a programme to replace all their existing logistic vehicles. Rather than submit their old trucks to a life extension programme, they decided it would be more economic and easier to replace them with a new truck. The MTVR is the result. Powered by a 425 hp Caterpillar diesel, the MTVR has a payload of over six to seven tonnes under extreme conditions and more over roads. The US Marines promptly ordered 5666 of them while the US Army was sufficiently impressed to order even more.

On the slightly lighter side, the US Army has also adopted the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle (FMTV). This has two main components, the 4 x 4, 2.5-tonne Light Medium Tactical Vehicle (FMTV) and the 6 x 6, five-tonne Medium Tactical Vehicle (MTV). Both are built by Stewart & Stevenson in a purpose-built facility in Sealy, Texas.

Of the two, the five-tonne MTV is of most interest to this account, having the capability to provide both forward and rear area supply missions. Originally developed from an Austrian Steyr design, the MTV has undergone extensive development and testing to the point where it is now at the `A1' production stage and coming off the production lines at a rapid rate. The MTV cargo version is only one of a large family with long wheelbase, expansible van, wrecker, tipper and even air-drop variants.

It is intended that the MTV and LMTV will replace all the existing US Army vehicles in their payload brackets, but that will take time. Most existing trucks in service with the US armed forces are older than their drivers by a considerable margin, and are only kept going at considerable expense and through time spent in repair facilities.

While few innovations are to be found in the logistic truck world, one might be soon introduced. It is a British design from Multidrive, a company normally associated with agricultural and construction vehicles. Knowing that the British Army had a requirement to replace many of their ageing trucks, Multidrive decided to intervene with its Future Cargo Vehicle, or FCV.

The forward control cab FCV is unusual on several counts. One is that its construction is modular, making adaptation to any of several configurations simple. One detail of this modular approach can be seen with the Cummins 275 hp diesel coupled to an automatic transmission. The power pack is carried within a space frame on the left-hand side between the two axles. For replacement or maintenance the entire frame slides out on rails for easy access.

There is also all-round independent suspension and a central tyre inflation system, but perhaps the most unusual feature of the FCV is its variable load capacity to suit the role required at any one time.

As a base 4 x 4 load carrier the FCV can carry up to six tonnes while operating in the High Mobility performance range -- that means it will be ideal for operations in forward areas. Increasing the payload to nine tonnes shifts the vehicle into the only slightly less agile Improved Medium Mobility category. Yet the potential payload can be increased to fifteen tonnes by the addition of what is called a `pulse propulsion load system', a trailer with an extendible towing arm that can be varied in length to suit the load. Mobility is reduced a little more to the Mobility+ bracket, still more than enough for most military assignments. The trailer has a hydraulic drive to the two wheels while the ability of the towing arm to be extended as required allows it to act as a `pusher' should the base vehicle become bogged down.

The Multidrive FCV is still in the pre-production stage but has already demonstrated considerable growth potential for a variety of roles. Increasing the engine to 360 hp is one option. A Drops model has been proposed along with armour-protected models for use in combat areas.

Others

Needless to say the above accounts relate to only a few of the many military logistic truck options available. It has not mentioned the many German MAN vehicles now available in three basic forms, mostly in 8 x 8 but with other configurations available. There are three model options, the SX, LX and FX. The SX is top of the range with high mobility, the capability of operating to full military standards and engine options up to a hefty 1000 hp, allowing a payload of up to 20 tonnes. On the LX series the chassis is less forgiving to hard use but it is lighter overall. The FX is the simplest of the three, being based around a commercial MAN model, the F90. As expected, the price tickets vary according to the capabilities.

Still in Germany, Mercedes introduced the S2000 at last year's Eurosatory exhibition (see full report in armada 4/2000, page 60). Very much with the current trend, this is in fact a series that comprises a two-tonner 4 x 4, a four to six-tonner 4 x 4 and a seven to ten tonne 6 x 6. As many existing components as possible were used in the development and a number of these were carried over from the Actros mentioned above. However, the S2000 boasts a new conventional cabin rather than the now more traditional forward cabin for several good reasons: a single-piece bonnet (including wings) provides all-round access to the horsepower maker; then this cabin design is simpler, and therefore cheaper to provide with armour protection, something that Kosovo-type conflicts have had a tendency to demonstrate as being a necessity -- this particular design enables the three-spoked star firm to offer three levels of protection; it also diminishes the overhang on the front axle which, in turn, decreases the propensity of the lorry to go chin-down in bad terrain; finally, a point on which any driver will agree: having the front wheels ahead of oneself rather than under or behind greatly facilitates the accurate `placing' of the wheels where required in a difficult environment, like a bad forest trail, for example. A further point is the lower profile such a cabin affords, making access to transport aircraft easier if not, more simply, possible.

Mention should also be made of the Russian and Ukraine offerings. Compared to most modern Western designs, the former Eastern Bloc logistic trucks are basic, somewhat dirty in exhaust terms, and are noisy. Their main attraction is that they can keep going while carrying considerable weights for prolonged periods, seemingly without maintenance or other attentions, and under the most adverse of environmental conditions. Typical of the latest Russian offerings is the Kamaz-6350 ten-tonne 8 x 8, powered by a 360 hp diesel. This vehicle lacks many of the refinements now expected on American and European equivalents but it offers a highly cost-effective solution for many potential military users. One counterpart from the Ukraine is the KrAZ-260, a 6 x 6 with a nine-tonne payload and available with several power options.

The list of other possibilities falling within the military logistic vehicle category are many and mention has scarcely been made of the myriad commercial models employed for military purposes. One will have to suffice, yet another US example in the form of the Freightliner M915/M916 series, now up to the M915A4 stage. Although having many modifications to better suit its military role, the Freightliner is basically a commercial model similar to those to be seen on any American highway. The base M915/M916 is a long haul tractor truck capable of traversing continents if necessary, but once away from prepared roads its mobility has limitations.

The military logistic truck is a far more complex aspect of the truck world than many might at first think.

In short

* "Always overlooked"

* "always called upon in panic"

* "often painted-over civilian models,"

* "the logistic lorry nevertheless remains a necessity and deserves to result from ad-hoc designs, something that budgets seldom allow."