General Dynamics UK [GD] recently said its Specialist Vehicle (SV), the core of the British Army’s Future Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV) program, is already increasing confidence in its capabilities in early tests.
The Mobile Test Rig (MTR) for the SV program, rolled out by General Dynamics in June, has towed a total of 92 tons train weight over 300 km providing early confidence in SV’s ability to deliver the full-load power-pack performance required to meet the vehicle’s anticipated growth path over the next 30 years.
This roll-out comes three weeks after the United Kingdom said the Specialist Vehicle is secure in the Ministry of Defense’s funding for the Armored Fighting Vehicle pipeline.
The MTR’s Gross Vehicle Weight was 30 tons for the test. The additional 62-ton load was provided by three towed vehicles, including two military AFVs—a 28-ton ULAN PT5 and an 18-ton SK105 Light tank with 105mm cannon–and a truck ballasted to 16 tons.
This test, one of several, used the three vehicles as a rolling dynamometer with the brake retarders energized on the towed vehicles, to provide the drawbar load on the MTR required to achieve maximum power and torque.
Conducted at the General Dynamics European Land Systems facility in Austria, this testing demonstrated two key characteristics of the SV design: that the automotive systems–tracks, wheels, suspension, engine, gearbox and cooling group–can deliver the performance to support the program’s growth path over the next 30 years; and that this SV platform, in its Recovery variant, will be capable of towing all other current British Army vehicles–a key role in the program’s Reconnaissance Block 1.
In 2010, General Dynamics was selected over BAE Systems and signed a $755 million contract for the demonstration phase of the then-potential $6 billion program to replace the British Army’s reconnaissance vehicle fleet.
This stress testing also provides early evidence of the SV’s ability to cope with environmental operating extremes. This is of particular importance for assured operation in high ambient temperatures, the ability to climb steep gradients and the ability to operate in a combined condition of high ambient temperatures at high altitude.
The MTR will also undertake an extensive series of operational and tactical (O&T) mobility trials to demonstrate the ability of the vehicle’s automotive systems to meet the demanding mobility requirements of the SV program. O&T trials will be conducted at a series of increasing gross vehicle weights to show the platform’s inherent growth capability up to the mandated maximum GVW of 42 tons, providing early confidence in the program of SV’s capability to deliver through-life growth.
O&T trials conclude at the end of 2012, and the MTR will be shipped to test facilities in Seville, Spain, where the vehicle will be put through a grueling Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) schedule designed to replicate pre-defined battlefield missions. On completion of the ALT activities, MTR will have covered a total of 10,000km and will have provided crucial reliability and performance data to inform the design and manufacture of the six prototype SV platforms.
The MTR program trials have been designed to provide proof-of-design and removing risk in advance of the main trials program, which will feature the six Recce Block 1 prototype vehicles. There will be three Scout, PMRS, and Repair and Recovery vehicles.
This rigorous and demanding trials-and-acceptance program will ensure that users will benefit from the key advantages of the SV’s common base-platform approach, including a lower cost of ownership and smaller logistics footprint thanks to the commonality of its components across the fleet and the reliability that will allow the Army to use SV far from its base for extended periods of time.