Defense News September 01, 2008
By Kris Osborn
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps are examining a 5,400-pound armored cabin that can be installed on Humvees to give riders blast protection equivalent to that of a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle, service and industry officials said.
The $80,000 Small combat Tactical Vehicle Capsule (SCTVC) made by Pilot Mountain, N.C.-based Granite Tactical Vehicles, was recently looked at by an Army cost and evaluation team in Washington and presented Aug. 27 to Army Material Command and officials at Tank Automotive Research and Engineering Center in Warren, Mich.
The services are considering adding capsules to damaged and worn Humvees returning from Iraq for reset.
Army spokesman Lt. Col Martin Downie confirmed that the service was evaluating the capsule.
"The Army is always looking for ways to counter this persistent threat and we're always interested in finding solutions that will enhance the safety of our soldiers," Downie said.
The Marine Corps could not provide comment by press time.
The SCTVC will undergo simulation testing and live-fire blast testing before the Army or Marine Corps make a decision. "The capsule is the same material as MRAPs with military-specification hard-steel sides and a high-grade steel hull," Granite Tactical Vehicles President Chris Berman said. "The capsule itself is welded into one big bubble which sets down over the chassis of an existing Humvee's frame rails. A plate extends underneath to complete a V-shaped hull."
The capsule lowers the Humvee's center of gravity compared with an up-armored vehicle, retains many of the dimensions of the original cab, and uses the existing controls, linkages and drive systems.
"We're so simple we're dumb," Berman said. "We have created the most basic solution there is. We can put on soft doors like a normal capsule, or bolt on extra protection faster, such as slat armor or EFP (explosively formed penetrators) protections."
