ANNISTON, Ala. – General Dynamics [GD] yesterday displayed the first Double V Hull (DVH) variant of its Stryker combat vehicle to be married to reharvested components from legacy flat-bottom hull variants as part of a pilot exchange program here at the Anniston Army Depot (ANAD).
The exchange program is an Army-General Dynamics effort to drive down the cost of the Stryker DVH by harvesting valuable common components from the flat bottom hulls and replacing the flat bottom hull with a double v hull. The flat-bottom hulls were vulnerable to IED blasts and the double v hull dissipates blasts to help increase survivability for the warfighter, according to company officials.
A brand new Stryker DVH costs an average of $2.54 million per vehicle. General Dynamics said an exchanged DVH could cost less than $1.88 million as initial data from the pilot program indicates costs are lower than estimated.
General Dynamics Vice President for Government Relations and Communications Kendell Pease said there is no timeline for the Army to decide when to turn the pilot Exchange Program into reality.
“We have 47 vehicles in that program and we’re going to do that 47,” Pease said. “If they make the decision at five or if they make the decision at 47, that’s the Army’s call.”
Pease said the company believes it has proven the DVH variant helps save lives.
“Because we have demonstrated both on the computer and on the strip down, that it’s a do-able process, we have great faith that the Army is going to find huge advantage to this, especially when you talk about increasing survivability for the troops,” Pease said.
General Dynamics spokesman Rob Doolittle said it takes approximately 25 days to turn around a flat-bottom hull and turn it into a ready-to-deliver DVH with reharvested parts once the DVH structure has been delivered to ANAD and a stockpile of reconditioned parts is available. It takes three to five days for the initial disassembly and inventory of the flat-bottom hull variants after they arrive at ANAD.
The company estimates, as part of the pilot program, it will take about 90 days to repair and refurbish valuable components like mission equipment, seats, displays and electronics, in preparation for reuse in the DVH. Doolittle said this is not an sequential process. Exchanged DVH variants aren’t entirely composed of reharvested components. Some, like the DVH structure, 5.5 driveline and DVH-unique parts arrive new from General Dynamics’ plant locations in Lima, Ohio and London, Ontario, Canada.
Doolittle said the flat-bottom hulls structures are being removed and saved at ANAD until the Army decides what to do with them.
The Army has decided to make DVH variants of all of its GD’s legacy flat-bottom variants except for the mobile gun system, engineer squad vehicle and NBC reconnaissance vehicle.
The Army plans to buy 760 DVH variants. Roughly 500 have been delivered from ANAD so far.