Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
GCT 2010 Volume: 1 Issue: 2 (August)
Allies Team Up for Equipment Development
Navistar Defense and Tatra, an Australian firm, announced that they will team for the upcoming Canadian Department of National Defence Standard Military Pattern (SMP) vehicle program. As part of the Medium Support Vehicle System (MSVS) program, SMP will replace Canada’s Medium Logistics truck fleet.
“We are excited to team with Tatra for the upcoming SMP vehicle program and believe that Tatra’s innovative vehicle designs and unique tactical chassis technology provide the team with a great advantage,” said Archie Massicotte, president, Navistar Defense. “Combining our military vehicle expertise, the Navistar-Tatra team brings to the table the know-how and the flexibility to provide Canada with great tactical vehicle technology and support solutions.”
“We are truly energized by how well Tatra and Navistar have come together as a team over these last several months,” said Ronald Adams, Tatra’s CEO and chairman of its board of directors. “As our cooperation has deepened with each passing day, and as we have built our first trucks together, we have come to realize how very powerful this team will be in the tactical vehicle arena. Our combined technology, engineering, manufacturing and support capabilities present a compelling value proposition for our customers.”
Equipment Defeats IEDs
Great Britain’s Talisman vehicle platform is saving lives in Afghanistan. The five elements consist of two enormous armored vehicles, a JCB digger, a bomb disposal robot and a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle).
The Talisman system is currently being used by Royal Engineers to clear and build safe routes around Helmand province in Afghanistan. A Mastiff armored vehicle and its crew act as Talisman’s eyes, with video screens inside the rear compartment of the truck displaying aerial video footage gathered by a Honeywell T-Hawk UAV. Another armored vehicle known as Buffalo has a remote-controlled, extendable, pronged arm attached to the front, which is used to comb or ‘rummage’ the ground, detecting signs of IEDs.
The JCB digger is used to fill in ditches or potholes that might prevent soldiers or vehicles from moving forward, and the Talon remote-controlled robot gives troops the safer option of remaining out of harm’s way when trying to deal with any devices they find.
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
Eltics, an Israeli company, has developed a system it claims can turn any vehicle or other object invisible to infrared (IR) night vision systems or IR-guided weapons. The Black Fox active adaptive IR stealth system is designed to reduce and even eliminate the heat signature of objects at night.
Black Fox consists of a FLIR camera that scans and captures the texture and heat signature of the vehicle’s surroundings. The image is then processed in the central control unit, which activates a series of plates installed on the vehicle to produce exactly the same heat signature as the surrounding environment. In addition, it can create false situational awareness pictures by projecting fake heat signatures from a preprogrammed database. ♦