Wheels on the Road
Written by Peter Buxbaum
MLF 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 6 (July)
Much as trucks on United States interstate highways play a key role in the economy by moving goods from place to place, so the U.S. military makes use of specialized trucks and trailers to move supplies and personnel to where they are needed. Several U.S. truck manufacturers produce lines of vehicles specially designed to take the punishment to be expected in a military environment.
The U.S. military also acquires specialty trailers to fulfill logistics functions. They are often designed to carry specific cargo. Sometimes trailers are custom designed on a one-off basis for specialized applications.
Within the last year, Oshkosh Defense has begun delivering upgraded versions of the Palletized Load System (PLS) and the Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET), two of the vehicles within the U.S. Army’s family of heavy tactical vehicles (FHTV), under a contract awarded in 2008. The company anticipates delivering 6,000 new vehicles under the contract. Oshkosh also upgrades some of the older FHTV vehicles to make them compatible with the latest requirements. The Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) is also a component of FHTV.
The HET is designed to rapidly transport battle tanks, fighting and recovery vehicles, armored vehicles and construction equipment, as well as their crews.
“The HET A1 is in low rate initial production while testing continues,” said Mike Ivy, vice president and general manager for Army programs at Oshkosh Defense. “We are making the final configuration changes and plan to ramp up to full rate production in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012.” Ivy expects the delivery order for 1,000 vehicles, valued at $440 million, to be completed by June 2012.
The new HET A1 will all have armored cabs, including armored floors. That additional weight has necessitated an upgrade to the 700-horsepower Caterpillar C18 engine. The latest Oshkosh HET A1 also includes higher capacity front suspension, electrical upgrades and standard air conditioning.
Fontaine Military Products has a strong presence in the military trailer market. “Roughly one third of our trailer business is composed of highly engineered trailers for customers such as the military,” said Dan Giles, director of military products for Fontaine Trailer Company.
Although highly engineered and specially designed, most military trailers utilize a large number of common off-the-shelf items. Some examples of common items could include lights, 2-inch kingpins, landing gear legs, pneumatic and electrical systems, axle and suspension system, brake system, fasteners, structural components, decking and flooring. Examples of uncommon items could include paint, specialty steels, storage boxes, specialty fasteners, dual voltage electrical systems, heavy duty brakes, 3.5-inch kingpins, special tires, etc.
“Some of our trailers involve welding specialty steels such as Docol and Domex from SSAB that are high strength and low weight. Fontaine is also able to capitalize on a heritage of designing flatbeds and lowboys for 60 years that allows us to utilize design expertise of our engineers. All of our engineers on military trailers have experience in the commercial trailer side of the business.”
“Fontaine Trailer Company is an innovative company with patented products such as our Revolution trailer,” said Giles. “We have adopted innovative suspension designs that set our trailers apart from the rest. Fontaine has supplier partners that can machine the trailer after fabrication to achieve tight tolerance requirements. As a company that practices Lean manufacturing and value analysis and value engineering, we are always promoting new and improved designs to our customers, before production, during production and after production.”
Manufacturing is one thing, but support is a long-term proposition, explained Giles. “We have a team in Fontaine that is focused on after-sale support. Our Fontaine PartSource group provides technical support to our commercial and military customers. We utilize online service catalogs that allow the customer to look up parts and part numbers on a trailer—for example, the M871A3 that we build.”
“Heil provides the U.S. military with world class heavy tactical and commercial grade trailer design, production and support capabilities,” said Bill Harris, director, military sales and business development, Heil Trailer International. “Two of our domestic plants—Heil Athens and Kalyn Siebert design and build a majority of our defense equipment. Each plant has over 200,000 square feet and during periods of high demand, has built over 100 military trailers a month, combined.”
Heil Athens, Athens, Tenn., produces the M967A2 and M969A3 tank trailer refuelers for the U.S. Army. They also build the MK970 tank trailer refueler for the U.S. Marines. Kalyn Siebert, Gatesville, Texas, builds the M870A3 low bed semitrailer for the U.S. Army, the M870A2S and M870A2E1 low bed semitrailers for the U.S. Marines and the M129A4 van body for the U.S. Army and its Guard and Reserve components. Kalyn also provides a number of different model COTS trailers to the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and other government agencies as well as reset and recap services for all branches and components of the U.S. military.
“Depending on the needs of the U.S. military and our commercial business, the percentage of our military business can be as much as 50 percent,” said Harris. “Currently, it’s running lower than that because the services are investigating reset and recap programs to repair and update their equipment as it returns from forward operating locations. Once they determine the condition of their fleet, we anticipate it will be more economical for the DoD to purchase new equipment for the warfighter. We should see a nice increase in requests for proposals, quotes and future contracts in the next few years.”
TACOM recently released its RFP for the M870A4 which calls for over 1,300 new M870A4 trailers to be produced and delivered in five years. To get the best-in-value trailer the country can offer, TACOM opened the bid up to all qualified and experienced manufacturers— it’s believed that over 20 OEMs provided proposals. Heil’s Kalyn Siebert subsidiary put together a five volume proposal to support the effort. “We suspect our proposal is very competitive and look forward to a favorable decision in the fall,” said Harris.
Commercial trailers share a number of the same features as their military brothers, but not everything. “The basic design and many of the features of our commercial trailers are specified on our military trailers, especially the COTS military trailers,” said Harris. “Typically, COTS trailers are used in non-tactical, support roles and except for increased payload capability and safety standards, they remain about the same as commercial trailers. COTS trailers are the exception—the majority of the equipment we build for the U.S. military is tactical. Our M900 Series tactical refuelers and M870 Series heavy tactical semi-trailers are designed and built for combat support roles. In that regard, the trailers are built to perform (loading and unloading) faster and operate in ultra-extreme conditions—rough terrain, very high and low temperatures and tactical situations.”
“We partner with our suppliers to provide the U.S. military with the best value industry has to offer. This engineering and design effort covers a wide spectrum of systems and components used on our trailers—from tactical lighting requirements to suspensions designed to navigate extreme terrain. Last year, the U.S. Army asked Heil to consider installing an armor system on its tactical refuelers. In the past, the military contracted with third party suppliers and installed armor after the units were delivered. This was very expensive and time consuming. By bringing the capability in-house for the government, we provided a better solution that saved the Army a lot of time and money. We partnered with High Impact Technology LLC, underwent extensive training and modified our Athens facility to perform the add-on-armor contract for the government. In addition, we updated the U.S Army’s engineering drawings so they would continue to realize exceptional armor kits on future tanker requirements.”
Silver Eagle Manufacturing Company, based in Portland, Ore., provides specialty trailers to the U.S. military, primarily designed to be towed by high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs).
“The trailers match the width and wheel track of the Humvee and use the same lights, wheels, tires and shock absorbers,” said Kevin Mulrenin, the company’s vice president for government sales. “Our engineering and design staff provide our customers with the ability to modify existing platforms to meet project-specific requirements.”
Silver Eagle’s M1101 and M1102 cargo trailers were the first the company designed to be compatible with the HMMWV. “They are about 90 percent aluminum construction,” said Mulrenin. “The members are riveted together instead of welded for extra strength. Steel is used in various locations where extra strength is needed.”
The climate regulated cargo trailer (CRCT) incorporates a Thermo King refrigeration system, used extensively in commercial climate-controlled transportation systems, to facilitate the transport of climate-regulated cargo such as food, water, medications, blood and plasma. The CRCT, which also meets the HMMWV mission profile, uses a modified Silver Eagle LTT-HC heavy chassis trailer and includes a 118-cubic-foot insulated interior with a stainless steel floor. The CRCT is also air-transportable thanks to its light weight and size.
“The CRCT is now being sold to National Guard units around the country for emergency response,” said Mulrenin. “The Navy and Air Force also use the trailers in smaller numbers for support operations.”
Silver Eagle manufactures another trailer, Light Weight Advanced Tactical Trailer System (L-WATTS), compatible with vehicles narrower than the HMMWV.
“Silver Eagle developed the trailer for narrow track vehicles such as the Jeep J8, Toyota Landcruiser, Mercedes G Wagon, Land Rover Defender and similar smaller vehicles being developed as an alternative to the Humvee,” said Mulrenin. “These smaller vehicles will have a range of duties from command vehicles to cargo carriers to ambulance and communication vehicles. The L-WATTS trailer system increases the vehicle’s payload capacity to enhance the mission profile.”
The trailer transitions easily from on-road to off-road and doubles the prime mover payload to 1,800 pounds. “The L-WATTS trailer utilizes a similarly-sized cargo bed and the same wheels, tires and suspension components as its prime mover,” said Mulrenin, “so replacement parts can be swapped in the field between trailer and the vehicle.”
One trend Mulrenin sees in the use of military trailers is the mounting of complex systems such as satellite communications systems, alternative energy, such as solar and wind, power generation systems, surveillance systems, and unmanned aerial vehicle launch and recovery systems. Some of Silver Eagle’s trailers are designed for specialized functions. For example, the heavy chassis LTT-HC, also compatible with the HMMWV, can be configured to accommodate the mounting of a tactical quiet generator (TQG).
One recently developed Silver Eagle trailer, the Fifth Wheel Tactical Trailer, attaches with a pallet to the bed of a HMMWV, thus increasing the vehicle’s maximum payload from 4,200 pounds to 7,000 pounds. The U.S. military purchased 48 of these trailers as part of the Tactical Satellite (TacSat) program.
“We typically start with a base trailer platform and modify it per specific customer requirements,” said Mulrenin. “What we supply to the customer is a specialized trailer platform that supports all the necessary equipment for their system.”
Like Silver Eagle, Centreville Manufacturing Inc. has also produced trailers for the military designed for specific purposes. One contract with the U.S. Navy Seabees involved designing and building a portable carpenter’s workshop capable of performing in a variety of conditions.
“When the Navy sets up shop, they have to build a little town to live in,” said John Doran, the company’s president. “They have to build latrines and places to eat and sleep. They take a product like ours and go into areas with virtually nothing and build a little village that becomes their home for a while.”
The Seabees carpenter shop on wheels included a 16-inch radial arm saw that needed to be self-contained with all needed blades, tools, power supply and components mounted on a rugged trailer. The trailer built by Centreville included a diesel generator with transfer switch, a custom storage box for the blades and tools, a lighting system for night use, and a fitted cover to protect the machine from the elements when not in use.
“The trailer frame was designed and built exclusively for this project,” said Doran. “We designed roller conveyor table extensions to attach to either side of the saw while it was in use, but able to stow in the trailer frame while being towed. We made our own aluminum rollers to conserve weight and reduce corrosion. The combination of aluminum and powder coated steel offers great durability. The conveyors were a bolt together design allowing repairs to be made in the field. No tools are required to set up and operate the machine other than to change the saw blade.”
A storage box mounted on the front of the trailer provides shelter for a night lighting system and the blades and tools needed to keep the saw up and running. The plastic blade storage rack was designed to protect the blade teeth, eliminate corrosion and to minimize weight.
“We designed and made a custom electrical transfer switch panel to allow the user to power the saw from the generator, or another alternate power source,” said Doran. “We made our own engine control and gauge panels. The design included a main panel on the generator, plus a remote panel that allowed the saw operator to start, stop and monitor the engine from the back of the trailer where the sawing operations take place. Marine grade instruments and wiring was used to minimize the possibility of corrosion.”
The Navy ordered 142 of these trailers from Centreville. The machines are delivered to Navy depots where they are loaded onto ships to be delivered worldwide.
Centreville also designed and built an all-purpose, 40-ton trailer for use at Army storage and distribution centers. The Army ammunition center in McAlester, Okla., “wanted a flatbed trailer,” said Doran, “but one with ramps on the back so they could drive machinery onto it. They also wanted container locks and specialized tie downs built into the bed of the trailer.”
The result was a 53-foot drop deck trailer that included container locks for 20- and 40-foot boxes, ratchet strap rails, and equipment loading ramps. “These trailers were extremely ruggedized, and will last a long time,” said Doran. The trailers were built on a “onesie-twosie” basis for McAlester and a similar project was executed for the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Doran believes these kinds of specialized projects are more readily executed by smaller companies like Centreville. “It’s easier for us to roll with the punches,” he said, “since we are used building a lot of things from scratch.” ♦