Keep on truckin'

There's an old saw about how amateurs study tactics, while professionals study logistics. I've always thought that was a bit of a stretch, since most of the professional military personnel I know studied tactics as well, but the point is well taken: logistics are critical.

That's why I was interested to read a DND announcement a couple of weeks ago that said the CF was getting some new trucks. Big trucks. Heavily armoured trucks. Trucks designed to do the job in one of the toughest operating environments in the world: Afghanistan.

These trucks, known as the Armoured Heavy Support Vehicle System (AHSVS), will supplement the well-regarded workhorse Heavy Logistics Vehicle Wheeled (HLVW) that currently shoulder the bulk of the resupply load to our troops outside the wire in Kandahar province. The CF backgrounder gives some context to the purchase:

Logistics vehicles form the backbone of any deployed operation. History has repeatedly shown that when re-supply operations fail, armies falter. The Canadian Forces’ heavy logistics requirement is currently provided by a fleet of more than 1,200 unarmoured Heavy Logistics Vehicle Wheeled (HLVW) trucks that were procured in the late 1980s.

In the 1990s, during operations in the Balkans, the threat of small arms fire, grenades and blast mines led the Army to develop an armour protection system (APS) for the HLVW. The APS components are made of steel, ceramic and ballistic glass. These components are extremely heavy and could only be designed to defeat certain threats without seriously degrading the payload capacity and functionality of the vehicle.

The HLVW currently provides the entire heavy logistics capability to Canadian Forces (CF) operations in Afghanistan, and is equipped with the same APS that was procured for the Balkans conflict. The fleet was meant to operate primarily on paved roads, and the aging HLVW fleet is significantly challenged by the harsh conditions and challenging terrain of operations in Afghanistan.

Apparently, when the CDS visited the troops in Kandahar last summer, some of the ladies and gents doing the tough and dangerous work of resupplying our Death Techs in the field mentioned that while they loved driving the 70 HLVW's currently in theatre, crew protection wasn't its strong suit. If an improvement was possible, it would be most appreciated.

According to Major Lyna Gravel, the AHSVS project director, General Hillier took the words of the troops to heart - a good start for any equipment project, and the wheels at NDHQ began to turn.

The first set of specifications developed were actually too strict, and there wasn't a single manufacturer that could prequalify for the SOIQ - mostly because of tight delivery requirements. Eventually, three companies were able to submit proposals for a January 2007 competition that resulted in the selection of the Mercedes-Benz Actros platform as winner of an $87M contract to provide 82 trucks and attached equipment to the CF, with the option to purchase another 26. The trucks should start to be delivered to KAF this fall.

(The SFU CASR info page provides some useful background, but from what I've been told, their information on how many of the AHSVS units will be going to Kandahar is incorrect - it will be 67, with the remainder delivered to units in Canada for training purposes for now.)

The "Armoured Heavy Actros" is quite a piece of kit. I was only mildly surprised to find a South African company (Land Mobility Technologies) was partnered with DaimlerChrysler to provide armouring on the truck cabs - they seem to have carved out quite a niche for themselves in this field:

Pollard says MRAP vehicles started in South Africa. The apartheid government in South Africa waged a brutal campaign against an anti-apartheid resistance, and MRAPs were developed as a means of surviving land mines and road mines.

Dr. Vernon Joynt was one of the founders of the MRAP project in South Africa and is now considered the world's foremost expert on anti-mine technology. FPI hired Joynt a few years ago. The Pentagon now considers him so important —indeed, a potential terrorist target — that the Department of Defense asked FPI to decline media requests to interview Joynt.

The service concept for these trucks is comprehensive, one of the reasons it is operated by over fifty different militaries worldwide:

Based on its worldwide service organisation, Mercedes-Benz has developed a service concept tailored specifically to military requirements. The solution is Integrated Logistic Support (ILS). Each vehicle is serviced in accordance with a defined maintenance concept that includes training drivers, operators and maintenance personnel, delivery of the necessary tools and parts as well as the required technical documentation. Support covers everything right through to deploying service representatives locally. The system is based on an across-the-board system of information logistics from the areas of development, sales and services, taking into account the field data available and customer requirements. The result is high vehicle fleet availability coupled with optimum overall economy.

Some of the more exotic performance specs are impressive:

The "Armoured Heavy Actros" is extremely mobile even on very difficult terrain and can cope with uphill gradients up to 70% or a lateral incline up to 30%. The "Armoured Heavy Actros" will even ford water courses with a depth of 750 mm, and even up to 1200 mm with special equipment. Depending on the version, the tyre pressure can be adjusted from the cab to increase traction in desert regions and mud in particular.

Night vision screens, external cameras for tight manoeuvring, and other useful features are incorporated into the design - not as expensive toys, but to enhance protection and performance. Apparently a remote weapon system similar to the RG-31 was discussed, but not approved.

(Besides, apparently the Actros has been to Afghanistan before.)

The vehicles purchased can be divided up into four variants:

• 25 cargo with material handling crane variant vehicles, of which 8 will be gun tractors for the M777 ultralight towed howitzer;


• 5 recovery variant vehicles, which can be used on vehicles up to LAV-III/Stryker size;


• 12 heavy tank transporter tractor variant vehicles, to complement the Leopard tanks now in theater;


• 40 palletized loading system (PLS) with container handling unit variant vehicles that include 10 petroleum, oils, and lubricants variants; and 5 water variants.

Although the CF hasn't purchased it, I found one further possible variant interesting - imagine troops in an armoured box carried like any other cargo on the truck bed:

LMT has also developed a "protected personnel transporter" for Daimler-Chrysler that is mounted on Actros trucks, and resembles EADS' TransProtec "battlebox" in use by the German and Danish militaries.

(The Defence Industry Daily article states that these trucks will "replace" the 70 HLVW's currently in Kandahar, but Maj Gravel wasn't so sure they'd be brought home immediately. There has apparently been talk of using them in less exposed situations. I'd guess it's all just RUMINT at this point, and will get sorted out when necessary.)

According to Maj Gravel, a self-described trucker herself with over 8 years in the field as an army logistics officer, the troops are going to love this truck. While the HLVW will undergo a twenty year life extension - a prudent move for a good truck, when we have 1200 of them throughout the CF - this additional purchase specifically for deployed operations in a high-threat environment represents a significant upgrade in capability.

As the major said to me when we spoke, "Now I want to go to Afghanistan and command a company of these trucks myself." Here's hoping she gets her wish, as logistics personnel driving supply convoys all over southern Afghanistan will soon get theirs: a truck that not only moves their cargo quickly and reliably, but protects them from harm at the same time.