(Credit:
Northrop Grumman )
Despite the pickup truck and cow catcher styling, the prototype of the military's new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) from Oshkosh Truck and Northrop Grumman promises better maneuverability, survivability, and payload capacity over the HMMWV it's designed to replace.
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps want something that comes armor-equipped, fuel-efficient, and air-droppable. It also wants a vehicle that can run on two flats and endure sustained small-arms fire. But most of all, performance must "exceed" that of the HMMWV, better known as the Humvee--which means it has to be more mine-resistant and ambush-proof than the flimsy Hummers plying the roads of Iraq today.
However, the Defense Department's decision to buy 6,800 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) as "interim" replacements to armored Humvees may mean that troops won't see the new JLTV until 2012, according to National Defense.
At least 18 other manufacturers are contributing elements or developing prototypes to compete for the next-generation of lightweight vehicles that will replace the Humvee, including General Tactical Vehicles, Hadas, Intermap Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Magna Powertrain, Mistral, ODF Optronics, Precision Remotes, Remote Reality, Reynolds Fasteners, Robertson Aviation, Rockwell Collins, Tai, Tesla Industries, and VSE, according to Defense News.
The companies agreed that if they are selected for the JLTV program, Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector will be the primary contractor and systems integrator, while Oshkosh Truck's Defense Group will be responsible for designing, engineering, and manufacturing the vehicle, according to a joint statement.
Camp Pendleton, home of push-ups and pugil sticks, will now offer a three-dimensional, virtual-reality immersion training course complete with smoke, explosions and the wail of the Muezzin to give U.S. Marines a taste of what they're in for.
(Credit:
U.S. Navy)
Known as "FlatWorld," the course is an in-depth blend of stagecraft and high tech created by the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies. Choosing the bureaucratic vernacular of the Pentagon, the Marines call it the "Infantry Immersive Trainer." Whatever the name, it's designed to replicate the chaos and confusion of close-quarter battle as well as some of the ethical problems soldiers encounter in urban conflict.
Units will maneuver through a 3D video game that combines the ring of battle with high-resolution images flashed on digital screens amid movable props and reconfigurable sets. The sets are large enough to drive a Humvee through, and will be enhanced with live, role-playing civilians and enemies. Details like flies buzzing around a pool of gore, sobbing widows and a shadow cast by a digital foe who hoses you down with AK fire all give this course the makings of a first-rate theme park. Trainers will eventually be able to tailor the sets and scenarios to specific missions. Imagine being able to rehearse something like the 1970 Son Tay POW camp raid or key fire fights in the 2004 battle of Fallujah.
It's still a couple bricks short of the Star Trek "holodeck," but it's light years ahead of the two-dimensional Doom Marines used to train with a decade ago. Similar programs are being used on the civilian side for customer service training and hold a great deal of promise when it comes to polishing the troops' communication skills, patience and etiquette when dealing with shell-shocked natives. (See Irate Customer video below.)
The Office of Naval Research has spent almost $75 million in the last 10 years on the Advanced Infantry Immersive Training program, according to Defense News. One Trainer will be installed in a 30,000-square-foot former tomato-packing warehouse near Camp Pendleton. Another will go in the new Marine Expeditionary Rifle Integration Facility near Quantico, Virginia.
The Army is also working on a live-virtual, immersive system (video below), and the Navy already uses a virtual ship to train recruits.
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