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The ULV Ultra Light Vehicle is a project from the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), to design Army vehicles that can undertake missions across a full spectrum of operational challenges while keeping occupants safe and using fuel efficiently. The ULV is a hybrid vehicle that includes lightweight advanced material armor, lightweight wheels and tires and other automotive systems, blast-mitigating underbody technology and advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment inside. The ULV is not a replacement for the JLTV Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program or the Humvee. It is an experimental vehicle used for testing purposes. TARDEC’s Ground System Survivability (GSS) group partnered with non-traditional defense contractors to bring their combined engineering expertise to the project. Tests and evaluations (T&Es) are planned through early 2014 where model predications can be validated and areas for improvement can be analyzed. T&Es on three ULV test articles includes human factors engineering, mobility, durability and survivability tests. Test sites include Aberdeen Test Center (ATC), Nevada Automotive Test Center (NATC) and TARDEC’s Ground System Power and Energy Lab (GSPEL). The array of test data from the three test sites will provide a solid understanding of the vehicle’s capabilities, limitations and opportunities for development. The ULV’s final design includes a relatively spacious, contractor (Hardwire LLC)-designed crew-accommodating cab that provides increased interior space than similarly equipped tactical vehicles. The remote-mounted and remote-controlled vehicle electronics reduce HVAC workloads and- create significant occupant spatial accommodations. In November 2013, the U.S. Army announced that two of the three vehicles in the Army's "Ultra Light Vehicle" program have now entered survivability testing in Nevada and Maryland, to evaluate both their blast and ballistic protection capability.
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| Armament |
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As all modern combat vehicles the ULV Ultar Light vehicle can be fitted with a large range of weapons systems. The prototype of the vehicle is fitted with a small turret, but other options could be available as remote weapon station. Such system is used on modern military vehicles, as it allows a gunner to remain in the relative protection of the vehicle. The lightweight gunner protection kit and sling harness is comprised of advanced composites that protect the weapon operator from threats including small arms, blasts and crashes The vehicle can probably be armed with an heavy machine gun up to 12.7 mm caliber.
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| Design and protection |
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The ULV Ultra Light Vehicle structure is made up of high-strength steels and advanced composite materials offering lightweight ballistic protection from a number of threats while keeping the vehicle’s overall weight down. Survivability designs include a variety of interior and exterior blastmitigating technologies to protect its occupants against underbody threats. The final design includes a contractor designed steel-base occupant-centric cab with the front and rear steel frames extending directly from the cab creating a monocoque structure without a traditional frame. The “clam shell” style front and rear doors open away from the B-pillar, creating a protected area for the crew to exit. The doors also boast large windows for maximum viewing angles with optional add-on armor packages for larger threat protection. New transparent ceramic armor system on windows also reduces weight and increases visibility The cab is designed to have seven egress points facilitated by quickrelease and removable components, stowage space for personal or mission- specific items, and 360 degree situational awareness through frontand rear-mounted ultra wide-angle thermal imagers. The ULV’s hybrid design allows for a ‘clean underbody’ through the elimination of traditional components such as a driveshaft, transmission, transfer case, and frame rails, potentially allowing for blast mitigation technologies to perform uninhibited during a blast event. This design provides added opportunities to integrate various blast mitigating kits under the hull for higher threat levels. Interior technologies include a crushable floating floor system that decouples the crew’s feet and legs from the steel hull and absorbs energy, adjustable seats that stroke downward on impact, fivepoint restraint systems, and spatial accommodations to mitigate head impacts and flail injuries. And exterior technologies include a singlepiece monocoque crew cab, double “V” pontoons with integrated stiffeners, and rigid structural stiffening technologies.
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| Mobility |
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The ULV is hybrid vehicle powered by a diesel engine that drives an electric generator. That generator in turn powers two electric motors that turn the wheels. Two electric motors provides redundancy should one of the motors fail. The ULV’s hybrid powertrain strives to improve mobility and survivability. The hybrid drive system eliminates the need for a driveshaft, potentially improving underbody blast performance, as well as providing drive redundancy by way of two electric drive motors. This technology, coupled with a lightweight diesel engine, endows the ULV with numerous capabilities, such as immediate electric launch, stealth drive, silent watch, exportable power generation, high torque at low/near zero speeds and likely improved fuel economy.
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| Accessories |
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The ULV Ultra Light Vehicle is equipped with a lightweight, intelligent, adjustable suspension system (18 inches of vertical travel) which provides automatic rideheight adjustments and can be lowered to meet a variety of stowage heights. This system uses silicon-based fluids to adapt the vehicle’s response to road and terrain variations and driving styles by automatically and instantaneously adjusting spring stiffness and damping at each wheel, independently, to increase roll/pitch control and stability and reduce ride harshness without driver intervention. The ULV features lower-weight Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) technologies with full Internet Protocol control options, improved integration, with a focus on warfighter needs. According to Karaki, the ULV electronics package represents a full electronic suite capability that exists in comparable tactical vehicles.
Standard equipment of ULV includes:
• Mobile Computing Platform RF-7800N-CP for C4I application hosting, network router and switch, video server, data and vetronic interfaces
• AN/VRC-110 Multiband Vehicular Radio System with AN/PRC-152 Type-1 Handheld Multiband Radio
• Dual RF-300M-V150 50 Watt Vehicular Adaptor with two PRC-117G(V)1(C) Type-1 Wideband Multiband Radios with Internal SAASM GPS
• RF-7800I Vehicular Intercom System
• One System Remote Video Terminal and Transceiver with Remote Optical Video Enhanced Receiver
• Fortress Encrypted Tactical Wireless Mesh
• Defense Advance GPS Receiver
• 360° SA Video via 2 FLIR ThermoVision WideEye II’s
• Boomerang Geo-rectified Shooter Detection System
• Counter RCIED Modular Countermeasure Suite
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| Specifications |
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Armament
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A machine gun up to 12.7mm caliber
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Country users
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Prototype
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Designer country
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United States
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Accessories
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Electric generator, electronic suite, countermeasure suite, thermal vision, GPS, Remote Video Terminal and Transceiver with Remote Optical Video Enhanced Receiver, Intercom system, mobile computing platform.
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Crew
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4 + 1 gunner
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Armor
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Steel armour and advanced composite materials offering lightweight ballistic protection. Floor protection for mine blast.
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Weight
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8,255 kg
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Speed
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120 km/h maximum
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Range
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540 km
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Dimensions
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Lenght: 5.05 m; Width: 2.43 m; Height: 2.05 m
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