https://electrek.co/2017/10/18/us-army-electric-revolution-official-talks-all-electric-brigades/ US Army doesn’t want to be left out of the electric revolution, official talks ‘all-electric brigades’ Oct. 18th 2017 Fred Lambert
[image https://electrek.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/abrams_in_formation-e1508346453539.jpg?quality=82&w=1500#038;strip=all&w=1600 tanks ] Can you imagine a whole brigade of all-electric Abrams tanks powered by those new ‘Solar farm in a box’ systems being deployed in combat zones? We are not quite there yet, but the US Army is apparently aware that it is a likely possibility due to their long-standing close links with the auto industry, which is currently in an important electric transition. During the the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting last week, Donald Sando, the Maneuver Center of Excellence’s deputy to the commanding general, which develops future requirements for individual soldiers and the maneuver force, claimed that electric vehicles will play an important role in the US Army relatively soon. He said during the meeting (via Defense News): “In 10 years, some of our brigade combat teams will be all-electric,” he continued “that’s a generational change. It’s significant; and we’re going to do it; and we’re going to need industry’s help. There’s plenty of people who say we can’t do it.” Sando referenced the Next-Gen Combat Vehicle program, which is currently spending $700 million on two prototypes made by a SAIC-led team at the Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center. As you would imagine, not much information is available about the project which is due in late 2022, but Sando is suggesting that the prototypes could end up being electric. Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, the commander of Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, added that the military isn’t likely going to be a leader in electrification. He expects that the military’s adoption of the technology will be a consequence of its partnership with the commercial automotive industry, which is going electric. He said: “In 15 to 20 years, it‘s hard to believe if industry moved in the direction of electric-powered vehicles that the Army would not be somewhere near there. Its brigade combat team consumes 2,000 gallons of fuel per day. We’ve got to think about other ways.” With the size of US Army’s fleet, a move toward electrification would likely encourage manufacturers to accelerate their EV efforts. It certainly wouldn’t be their first EVs. Albeit not combat vehicles, we recently reported on the U.S. Air Force using a Tesla Model S as chase car to launch spy planes on a Royal Air Force base and they also recently purchased a Tesla Model X to study its ‘fully self-driving’ capability. [© electrek.co] http://www.alphr.com/cars/1007425/the-us-army-has-its-sights-set-on-all-electric-tanks The US army has its sights set on all-electric tanks 19 Oct 2017 Abigail Beall [images http://cdn2.alphr.com/sites/alphr/files/2017/10/surus_.jpg http://cdn1.alphr.com/sites/alphr/files/styles/16x9_640/public/2017/10/-abrams_tank.jpg?itok=v47KRiNA ] “In 10 years, some of our brigade combat teams will be all-electric” The electric vehicle movement is not limited to cars, planes and flying cars. In a few years, tanks will be electric too. “In 10 years, some of our brigade combat teams will be all-electric,” said Donald Sando, Deputy to the Commanding General, at the Association of the US Army’s annual meeting on Wednesday, in a panel discussion hosted by Defense News. Sando works at the Maneuver Center of Excellence, which predicts what the army will require in future for soldiers individually and the force as a whole. He says the move to electric vehicles is not only likely to happen, it’s necessary. “It’s significant; and we’re going to do it; and we’re going to need industry’s help,” Sando said. “There’s plenty of people who say we can’t do it.” Last week the army kicked off a prototyping scheme, to develop what it calls its Next-Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV). It awarded an industry contract worth $700 million (£530 million) to build two demonstration vehicles by 2022. The wining team consisted of SAIC, Lockheed Martin, Moog, GS Engineering, Hodges Transportation and Roush Industries. The new vehicles will replace the current M1 Abrams tank and M2 Bradley fighting vehicle. “We need to go to the next-generation squad, and we need to go to the next-generation combat vehicle,” Sando said. “If they’re not electric or hydroelectric, then I’m wrong.” This would not be the first electric vehicle designed for combat. Last year General Motors reaveled an electrical autonomous vehicle, called Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure, or SURUS ... The company mentioned it was looking into using SURUS as a truck, and it had been evaluated by the military under guidance of the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) ... “General Motors is committed to bringing new high-performance, zero-emission systems to solve complex challenges for a variety of customers.” It seems a general consensus, then, that electricity is the way forward. “In 15 to 20 years, it‘s hard to believe if industry moved in the direction of electric-powered vehicles that the Army would not be somewhere near there,” said Cedric Wins, commander of Army Research, Development and Engineering Command. “Its brigade combat team consumes 2,000 gallons of fuel per day. We’ve got to think about other ways.” [© Dennis Publishing] For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
