That’s the only way I can describe the two armored vehicles that were hogging the right lane of I-26 outside Charleston, S.C. this weekend. They were early examples of the ULTRA AP — “AP” for “Armored Patrol” — a Humvee replacement being developed by Georgia Tech for the U.S. Marine Corps. The ones I saw were presumably on their way to the Navy lab in Charleston.
“The ULTRA AP will emphasize high-output diesel power combined with revolutionary armor and a fully modern chassis,” according to Georgia Tech Research News. But never mind all that. The key difference between the ULTRA AP and the Humvee, and the reason the ULTRA needs a new engine and chassis at all, is that the new vehicle is wrapped in enough steel and ceramic to withstand all but the biggest IEDs. Experience in Iraq, where IEDs are the major killer, has proved that the battlefield of the future is no place for thin-skinned vehicles. In fact, the two newest additions to the Army’s vehicle fleet, the Meerkat and the Buffalo (pictured below), are both designed for maximum protection against IEDs.
The Army’s flagship program, Future Combat Systems, once hinged on air-transportable vehicles that were lighter than the current fleet. The Army was counting on advanced networks and long-range fires to make FCS surviveable.
Now FCS has been redesigned to cope with dense urban environments and sophisticated IEDs. ULTRA AP, Meerkat and Buffalo have given us a glimpse of the future, where ground combat vehicles are as heavy as ever, if not heavier.
The big question? How do we get these big, heavy vehicles into the fight quicker?
–David Axe
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Humvees on Crack
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Just get an M1117 Guardian. Why start a new project to waste more money. If there will not be a civilian model like Hummer for Ultra, is there any chance to decrease the cost? Size? Are you going to ignore survivability for size? Cost? There has to be a compromise somewhere for cost. Guardian is about 5 times the price of M1114, but is less than half the price of Stryker, and 1/3 the price of Bradley. Meanwhile, it can survive RPG attacks with the additional armor, and get away with sniper fires for the turret.
As for how to get them into battle quicker, I think the answer is the same as before: more transport. More heavy cargo planes, more sealift, etc.
Having been through mortar attacks I can not put a price on a soldier’s safety at all, especially as having been that soldier. I don’t care what these cost, I would rather my tax dollars go to protecting troops than other venues of government interest.
this is the best the university of georgia could come up with? what a joke.
it is pretty bad that these ideas are getting entertained at all in the first place.
i am seriously thinking of moving to another country, my rights are infringed by politicians who have no measurable IQ, the whole country is full of greedy capitalists/scams/underachievers in worthless jobs getting paid money, and intellectual inferiors can go about with their pitiful ideas and get the interest of the same people who print them money.
but on the other hand the rest of the world is full of even worse idiotic underdeveloped ape’s.
hopefully the moon smash’s into the planet soon and i goto a better place, because i am not honored to share the planet with current inhabitants. either that or some focused natural disaster does all the dirty work and sanity is established.
No I take the moon part back, I am too good to go down with you guys. Alot of pinpointed natural disasters would be better.
Welp, how about for starters we scale the pointy nosed one seat supercruising wunderwaffe program (that’d be the F/(A)-22, btw) waaaay back in favor of more transports? But then I’ll bet some of y’all knew I was going to say that…
Good Morning JSAllison,
I can only add number to your osbervations. The Air Force is cancelling the final 42 C-117 Globemaster III’s or about 25% of the authorized fleet of 200.
That budget sucking sound is as you say the F/A-22 and now the F-35 program. But maybe the folks over at DARPA are working on levation and water walking. In which case we won’t need all those C-117’s.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
“Stewart’s Platoon”
I’m a fan of the F/A-22…the 35 is a way off yet…so I wont judge it yet.
I’m hoping that the WALRUS program does very well…to the point where we only need a small amount of cargo planes, and there only kept for quick response situations. Airships are better in sooo sooo many ways.
Good Morning Folks,
Anyone else notice the stylized American Flag patch on the right sleeve of the soldier in the forground. I like it.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
“Stewart’s Platoon”
Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to be buy some “pigs” from the British Army http://www.rememuseum.org.uk/vehicles/dom/vehhumb.htm
Faster into combat?
There has been a revolution in shipping technology. Aluminum ferrys can carry large cargo at extreme speeds using turbine engines. Of course that does not get the cargo to shore, but getting the stuff there fast is the hard part.
Of course this would require the Navy to get off its butt and be a little innovative. I foresee this happening …never
The Army may go with a bigger vehicle, but the Marines are tied to a light force.
Many of these new generation Hummvs look like big trucks with stuff added on. Why should this be so expensive. The basic truck gets you a lot of the critical parameters easily. Things like ground clearance away from mines, speed and handling, weight (armour carrying capacity). More armoured trucks, lots more and gun trucks would seem to go a long way toward protecting troups on the road. Why does this stuff have to be so expensive??
this design is the future and we should support it just like we should support our soldiers in iraq
How to move them best? Airships. As described here: http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_Walrus„00.html
Call me a romantic but I will definitely miss the Humvee. It has really defined the look of our military.
Somehow I feel that these ULTRA ATs look like the marauding Panzerspahwagens of the future. I felt the same way when we switched from the Vietnam ‘pot’ helmet to the modern ‘fritz’ helmet.
I know it’s silly but I do not want the US Army to look any more like Nazis than we already do.
The current versions of the Humvee are being “unarmored” and they are putting tons of armor on them. however they were not designed to handle the enormous amount of weight when all this new cladding is attached to them. Secondly no matter how strong and great the Humvee is it also isnt designed to handle many of the IED threats that the warriors now face. So parts break, warriors are put at risk and the vehicle isnt near as efficient as it used to be We lose a lot of good warriors because of this. So yes it costs a lot to make a totally new piece of gear. If you was placed in harms way you would want the absolute best gear you could get for you and your buddies. I have been there and done that and let me tell you the Buffalo and others like it put the Humvee to shame in troop survivability
oops that should be “up armored” sorry for the typo
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