This article was copied from Motor Trend's "Truck Trends"

Dodge Ram COMBATT, Dodge Ram 2500 COMBATT C-11 Hybrid, Jeep TJL

Military might: Commercial trucks go camo

By Sue Mead
Photography by the author
Truck Trend, April 2003

Standing with off-road guru Mark Smith at the break of a steep hill (70-degree descent angle), I realized this could have been one of many four-wheel-drive courses Smith has built and one of many I've seen and driven. But this was different. There were camo'ed military trucks performing maneuvers in the 100-foot-long pea-gravel pit, motoring at sharp, 45-degree hill-side angles in the figure-eight area, throttling up the 120-foot-long pyramid hillclimb, and inching through the six-foot-deep V-ditch, also with 45-degree sides. Drivers and passengers wore Army helmets, and trucks of many sizes and types had machine-gun turrets and M-16 rifle holders. This was not your average off-road playground.
 

"This unique off-road oval track features numerous challenges designed to approximate what a military vehicle might encounter on a border-patrol assignment or during a homeland-defense mission," says CWO-4 Gary Dickerson. "The variety and severity of the SORT obstacles give the services and industry an opportunity to obtain a quick assessment of real-world off-road-vehicle performance."
 

Offered at a savings of close to $30,000 per vehicle over the H1, present prototypes include a modified Dodge Ram 2500/3500, Ford F-350, and Heavy Duty Chevrolet Silverado. Dodge also has built a diesel/electric hybrid version of its truck. The modifications will make them appealing to Federal Government agencies and other customers who need capable off-road vehicles for severe duty such as logging, mining, and rural firefighting, and for counties that don't have highly developed highway systems. Other government agencies currently evaluating the COMBATT vehicles include the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Border Patrol, and state law-enforcement organizations.

Some of the modifications to get these dual-use vehicles up to military standards include air springs (ride-height adjustment), extended suspension, up-size wheels and tires, a central tire-inflation system, four-wheel ABS, a yaw-stability-management system, advanced differentials, variable-stiffness anti-roll bars, adaptive cruise control, extra body and chassis protection, black-box recorder, driver-vision enhancement with panel display, complete suite of electronics for navigation/ communications, as well as for diagnostics.
 

"This effort is a part of the Army's 21st Century Truck Initiative," notes Dennis Wend, director of the NAC in Warren, Michigan. "It has goals of building smarter, safer, and more fuel-efficient trucks for our future force." NAC is the Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center's (TARDEC) principal conduit for technology transfer from the automotive industry into the Army's ground-vehicles-research/development projects. NAC is also at the forefront of the 21st Century Truck Initiative, which also has a unique goal of developing systems that must benefit the commercial sector and the military.

The magnitude of our mission directly affects our defending warriors," says Major General N. Ross Thompson III, commander of the U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command. "[They are] the fighting men and women in today's Army. But we look at a support horizon that spans 70 years--from equipment built in the mid-'60s to equipment that'll still be in soldiers' hands in 2035." TT

Benefits include desired cornering stiffness, avoiding the undesirable axle-articulation limitations of a conventional torsional stabilizer bar; load leveling by adjusting the vehicle body to a level attitude, regardless of load distribution, which keeps headlight beams at the proper height and maintains the chosen suspension-jounce travel for absorbing rough-road inputs; maximum wheel/axle-articulation travel that permits wheels to travel the full extent of designed travel range, regardless of the circumstances (for example, left front wheel fully up, right front wheel fully down, left rear wheel fully down, right rear wheel fully up); variable ground clearance that enables the driver to change the vehicle's body height relative to the ground, such as lowered to facilitate loading cargo or personnel or raised to maneuver over obstacles or deep snow, water, or mud; near equal wheel loading that's achieved because the hydraulic cylinders are interconnected, so loads at the four tires are automatically balanced thereby improving traction.
 

The Jeep Wrangler TJL mixes modern automotive technology with some of the same attributes the troops valued in the original Willys MB. An up-to-date take on the original "go-anywhere, do-anything" utility vehicle, the new TJL (long-wheel-based TJ) has been designed to meet the most challenging tasks and perform in the most adverse conditions. Its first tour of duty will be in Egypt.
 

Chrysler Group is furthermore developing a Dodge Ram HEV for commercial applications, such as the construction and utility industries. The vehicle, based on the all-new Ram pickup, will be available in 1500 and 2500 models with either two-wheel or four-wheel drive and equipped with various gasoline engines. The electric motor provides power assist of 35 kw (about 47 horsepower). The motor is located between the engine and transmission to create the electric-generating capacity. 

The exhaust emissions from the Ram HEV generator will be much cleaner than conventional portable generators; it'll be powered by the vehicle's clean hybrid powertrain. (The additional components in the hybrid powertrain add 250-300 pounds to the vehicle's weight, compared with 2500 pounds or more for a portable generator with similar capacity.) 

Sold commercially, beginning in 2004, this new vehicle is designed to meet the off-site electrical-generating-capacity needs of construction contractors, farmers, campers, and even homeowners.