<a href=Stryker vehicle” height=”152″ src=”https://www.army-technology.com/wp-content/uploads/static-progressive/Army_Stryker.jpg” style=”padding:10px” width=”300″ />

DRS Technologies’ on-board vehicle power (OBVP) system has been selected by the US Army for inclusion in the critical field testing for network technology.
 
The high-powered DRS/Allison Transmission integral generator system is scheduled to be employed and tested on two separate, DRS-sponsored concept vehicles, the mobile integrated command post (MICP) vehicle and the mission command on the move (MCOTM) vehicle during the army’s network integration evaluation (NIE) bi-annual field exercise.
 
Both MCOTM and MICP are repurposed Navistar MaxxPro mine-resistant, ambush-proof (MRAP) vehicles.
 
DRS Network and Imaging Systems group president Mike Sarrica said all fielded concepts of command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) equipment, from soldier radios to brigade servers, require power for operation.
 
Sarrica said: "Towed generators limit cross-country mobility, take up valuable space when deploying and add to the logistics sustainment burden of our forces.

"Towed generators limit cross-country mobility, take up valuable space when deploying and add to the logistics sustainment burden of forces."

"The DRS and Allison OBVP offering demonstrates multiple proven technologies that deliver improved capabilities to meet the requirements of army network and mission command modernisation efforts."
 
Manufactured by DRS’s Network and Imaging Systems group, the OBVP generates power for operation of a range of command, control, communications, computers and other sensors on combat vehicles by transforming the vehicle’s powertrain into an electrical power plant, which lowers the reliance on heavy generators.
 
Designed to work with Stryker, MRAP, and the family of medium tactical vehicles that use the Allison 3000 series transmission, the system does not change the vehicle’s drive line and also does not require a new military operational specialty.
 
Besides delivering continuous power on the battlefield, both MICP and MCOTM vehicle modernisation concepts aim to directly address army’s existing multiple operational gaps by reducing its prime mover requirements, and increasing battlefield mobility.


Image: DRS Technologies’ on-board vehicle power system is designed to work with the US Army’s Stryker armoured fighting vehicle. Photo: courtesy of Jarek Tuszynski (Jarekt).

Defence Technology