Advanced Lightweight Vehicle Components and Materials

The additional weight of add-on armor systems and extra equipment required by the fighting force, coupled with IED tactical warfare has negatively impacted the performance of tactical wheeled vehicles. This is demonstrated by overstressed suspension systems, higher vehicle center of gravity, increased rollovers, and reduced performance on all tactical vehicles. It has been especially prevalent in the HMMWV platform. Therefore, GS Engineering proposes a detailed parametric study of the M1165 HMMWV to develop lightweight components using advanced materials and manufacturing techniques for near term implementation. These lightweight body components will save over 500 pounds of mass with equal or improved performance over the heavy steel or cast iron components. Also, the Titanium Armor B-3 Kit has potential weight savings on the order of 2350#. BENEFITS: The successful completion of the design, analysis and testing of the lightweight prototypes during Phase II will demonstrate both the feasibility of using advanced lightweight materials on ground vehicles and the dynamic performance increase of the vehicle with reduced weight. These solutions will be practical and affordable, and ready for immediate implementation. The effort on the titanium armor solution will be an expensive weight reduction item, but will serve to demonstrate the feasibility and the required manufacturing processes. Furthermore, this will provide data for costing analyses with the “low cost armor development program” funded by DARPA. Therefore, this program will provide actual test data on low cost immediate solutions along with longer term solutions. Following the completion of the Phase II work, the prototype solutions will have seen the full range of testing and therefore a high confidence of success will lead into a Phase III effort. These lightweight component designs will have dual use applications for weight sensitive vehicles including off-road enthusiasts, forestry equipment, oil exploration equipment and load limited class 8 trucks.