Washington: The US Army is taking a hybrid next-generation tactical vehicle prototype for a spin in snowy Bavarian terrain, according to a report from the US Army Europe and Africa posted to its website.
The GM Defence-developed Next Generation Tactical Vehicle-Hybrid, or NGTV-H, is a diesel-powered, electric light reconnaissance vehicle that the company unveiled at the Association of the US Army’s annual conference in October.
The Army introduced the prototype to the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, which is conducting testing on the vehicle during Combined Resolve, a recurring US Army exercise held at the Joint Multinational Readiness Centre in Hohenfels, Germany.
An infantry soldier’s primary focus was once ammunition, dry socks and enough water to survive in the field. But today there’s a need for vast stores of power just to manage daily operations.
The service is sending a variety of capabilities to units globally as part of its Transformation in Contact initiative, which allows soldiers and commanders to try new technologies in real operational environments and scenarios to better confirm whether new capabilities will work outside of controlled test and evaluation environments.
The Army does not yet have a requirement for a new Humvee, or High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or something else to replace the 40-year old vehicles in the force.
The service has replaced some Humvees with the newer Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, but the service wants to retain a slightly smaller vehicle akin to the Humvee in its inventory.
GM Defence’s NGTV-H takes the Chevy Silverado truck and the same Duramax engine used on the Army’s Infantry Squad Vehicle and pairs it with an electric battery capable of producing roughly 300 kilowatt hours of power output and a 15-gallon fuel tank.
As the war in Ukraine rages on, soldiers fighting there have shown the need for vehicles quieter than current military vehicles. The technology in hybrid electric vehicles, like the NGTV-H, allow for silent drive, meaning the vehicle is able to power systems without idling an engine. In the prototype vehicle, the driver can switch between “silent mode” and regular engine mode with the flip of a switch, according to GM Defence.
The electric battery also helps decrease the battery requirements for units on the battlefield. The Army has gone from a platoon carrying roughly 48 pounds of batteries in Desert Storm and Desert Shield to carrying 1,200 pounds of batteries.
“It’s unreal, the amount of kit now that requires energy,” Pete Johnson, GM Defence vice president of business development for integrated vehicles, said on a visit last fall to General Motors Milford Proving Ground.
The vehicle is transportable in C-130 and C-17 aircraft and can be sling-loaded by a CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter or an MH-53 King Stallion helicopter.
Army leadership in recent years have expressed interest in hybrid-electric capabilities for combat vehicles because of the operational capabilities they would bring to the battlefield but have yet to bite the bullet. Evaluations like the one ongoing in Europe could accelerate adoption of such capability.
