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Jeep re-enters tactical vehicle market
September 10th, 2009 | DSEI 2009 | Posted by Rob Curtis
Chrysler has partnered with the Jankel Group to bring new tactical versions of the once iconic Jeep back to the battlefield. The Jeep J8, named because it’s the 8th version of the Wrangler, will soon be available only on the foreign and domestic military/government market.
“What the J8 is, really, is a tremendously capable and flexible platform for modifications,” Jack Robinson, Jeep Government & Military Sales General Manager says. “Our business model is to have Jankel, JGMS’s parent company, work with Jeep engineering to create a family of vehicles.”
The J8 is based on the commercially available Jeep Unlimited and has been extensively modified for military operations. The common, long-wheelbase, drivetrain is available in 12 configurations that include a three- or five-door light patrol vehicle variant, pickup truck variant, personnel carrier variant, armored variant, cargo variant and ambulance variant.
Chrysler began with the Jeep Unlimited gave it a VM Motori 2.8L, four-cylinder turbo diesel engine then reinforced the frame, added heavy-duty brakes, engine cooling and suspension systems, a upgraded axles and an enhanced air filtration system that is designed to keep the vehicle running for 5 hours in a desert sandstorm. Many of the upgrade parts came from the Dodge truck line.
Chrysler then turned to the military vehicle engineering specialists at Jankel Armour Holding in the UK to modify the vehicle further for use in military operations. The Brits designed 12 variants by adding roll-bars, tubular mounts for weapons and accessories, a weapon turret, a folding windshield, and light ballistic armor to the J8 base vehicle.
The conversions from base vehicle to each of the 10 other variants can be completed in an average of 25 man hours on the South Carolina factory floor and Jeep will offer modification packages for local assembly.
The base, 3-door vehicle is priced in the high $30,000′s.
BAE expands vehicle vision system with Army order
September 9th, 2009 | DSEI 2009 | Posted by Antonie Boessenkool
BAE's Check-6 infrared or color camera is incorporated into a vehicle's taillight structure to give visibility outside the vehicle.
BAE Systems announced Wednesday a $10.7 million order from the U.S. Army for 338 camera and sensor systems for visibility outside armored vehicles.
The systems, called the Driver’s Vision Enhancer Family of Systems, are a combination of infrared sensors, color cameras, displays and vehicle integration kits that provide wider visibility outside the vehicle.
“We find that as vehicles become more armored, they have challenges with visibility,” said Gary Morris, business development manager of Soldier and Vehicle Solutions at BAE, in announcing the order at DSEi.
“We would like to be able to allow the troops to stay under that armor to the maximum extent possible, but while doing that we’d also like to be able to allow them to still sense that environment as if they weren’t under the armor.”
Several of the elements of the systems are already deployed on vehicles in theater. For example, BAE’s Check-6 vision system, an infrared or color camera mounted in the tail light assembly of vehicles, is on Bradleys and Strykers. But the family of systems extends the systems to four variations for 17 different Army and Marine Corps vehicles, including mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, medium tactical vehicles and high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, Morris said.
“In past years, DVEs were only allocated to the very high-value vehicles, the combat vehicles,” Morris said. “But as we’ve seen in theater … the vehicles that are always getting shot up is the lower-valued, let’s say more affordable (vehicles). So they need some of these capabilities at a very affordable level for vehicles aside from the very high-end combat vehicles.”
The program has a maximum value of $1.94 billion and a performance period of five years. DRS Technologies, part of Italian firm Finmeccanica, is the other contractor for the program. The contract comes from the Army’s Communications Electronics Command Life Cycle Management Center.
Tags: BAE Systems, driver's vision enhancer, dsei, vehicles