In late October 2011, the Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement awarded to DREHTAINER the contract for developing the Geschützter Verwundetentransport-Container (GVTC), or Protected Casualty Transport Container, for the Bundeswehr Central Medical Service.
This container is loaded on a MULTI FSA swap body vehicle and offers transportation capacity for up to nine injured individuals, six in recumbent and three in sitting positions, plus two accompanying medics. It will be resistant to ballistic threats, mine explosions and lateral blast impacts.
On missions abroad, the medical service operates an integral system of different medical facilities. Casualties are first taken to facilities in the field but as soon as they have been initially treated and stabilised they are transported to higher-level facilities for follow-on treatment and to relieve the field facilities. The patients may be transported by air but in the absence of available airmobile transport capacities they need to be moved overland. There is however a lack of an adequate, suitable and protected transportation to meet this requirement. The GVTC is supposed to close this capability gap.
With the GVTC the Bundeswehr will for the first time introduce the DREHTAINER developed Zero Shock® system. In the moment of a mine or IED explosion, this system completely uncouples the inner floor of the container or vehicle from the protective outer body, thus fully preventing blast impacts from affecting humans and equipment. This fact drastically increases the protection level for the entire container crew. As the installations kits are exclusively mounted on the Zero Shock® floor, all medical equipment and computers can be integrated without being additionally hardened. So this system represents a milestone in the improvement of passenger protection in vehicles and containers.