Best Value Suspension System

The Marine Corps desires a highly mobile amphibious vehicle that operates in harsh conditions on land and in ocean waters. The existing Amphibious Assault Vehicles suspension system limits sea mobility to around 8 knots, three times slower than that desired by the Marine Corps. Loc Performance Products, Inc. (Loc) proposes to develop its Best Value Suspension System (BVSS) with its partner Oneiric Systems, Inc., to provide the Marine Corps with its desired sea and land mobility performance at an affordable price. BVSS provides a minimally complex approach to lift the running gear, improving sea mobility, while simultaneously meeting all requirements. In Phase I, Loc will develop two spring technology solutions and a common hydraulic damping design to offer the Marine Corps a modular architecture with tradeoff options between cost, weight, packaging, and reliability in their future amphibious suspension system. Loc will mature the technology concepts, perform modeling and simulation analyses, and quantify tradeoffs for each spring mechanism option. At the conclusion of Phase I, Loc will recommend a complete system design for a follow-on Phase II system demonstration. At the conclusion of Phase II, BVSS will be ready for technology insertion into the next Marine Corps amphibious vehicle development program.