Industry calls them Class 8 trucks: the legions of semitrucks and trailers that are a ubiquitous presence on America’s highways. The Army has its own inventory of these heavy movers, and they play a critical role in modern military operations.

However, while the Army might buy 600–800 of these trucks in any given year, commercial manufacturers could produce approximately 30,000–80,000 vehicles in that same year. It stands to reason the Army might look to exploit that manufacturing differential for the benefit of the warfighter.

That’s exactly what the service is exploring under an emerging concept known as Common Tactical Truck (CTT).

“Our vision is to leverage commercial investment and economies of scale in a production-ready system, something that is already being sold in the marketplace,” said Timothy Godette, outgoing program executive officer for Combat Support and Combat Service Support. “We’re trying to get an affordable heavy truck that continues to add new capability and technology for soldiers.”

Acknowledging that most Army heavy truck programs receive limited research, development, test and evaluation funding, he said, “Fortunately, many of our products have applications on the commercial side, which does have significant research and development funding. That’s what we’re trying to leverage.

“We think we can come up with an acquisition strategy that leverages that investment that commercial industry makes in keeping those systems current with the newest technology. They pump a lot of money into developing a new capability or new model. So the vision behind the CTT is to replace three, four or five variants of the current Army fleet with a system based on some common chassis, engine, wheels or other components.”

Potential Candidates

He identified systems that are potential candidates for CTT inclusion. Most visually similar to their commercial counterparts would be the M915/M916 series of line haul tractors, where current Army requirements call for 5,885 M915s and 341 of the M916s that are used to haul engineer equipment. Other identified vehicles and fleets likely to benefit from the CTT vision include the M1088 Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles tractor and multiple variants of the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck and Palletized Load System.

With the current Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck fleet at over 20,000 vehicles, and the Palletized Load System fleet at around 7,000 vehicles, adding the other platforms would bring a potential CTT end state to more than 30,000 vehicles that might be replaced.

Asked if the Army’s Heavy Equipment Transport System would be included under CTT, Godette said that platform is probably too heavy to be included under the Common Tactical Truck umbrella.

Large Team

Godette identified a broad Army team that is developing and refining the CTT vision, with members including the chief of transportation, who serves as the program proponent at the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command; the Army’s chief logistician, in order to address any logistics implications; the U.S. Army Materiel Command, to do the same for any sustainment implications; the project manager for transportation systems in his own program executive office; and both the Capabilities Development Integration Directorate and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center in the U.S. Army Futures Command.

“We are working closely with the Capabilities Development Integration Directorate on requirements and the Ground Vehicle Systems Center on research, development, test and evaluation to put a strategy together to set the conditions going forward,” he said. “There are many modernization demands, and the CTT will have to compete in the [program objective memorandum] just like every other new capability.”

Asked to elaborate on the challenges of integrating commercial transportation technologies onto a family of military platforms, Godette said, “I think in the context of a Common Tactical Truck, we really wouldn’t be taking technology and integrating into a military truck, but instead, we would really be starting with the commercial platform and then integrating the technology that may have more military application onto it.”

Take Advantage of Technologies

“We really want to take advantage of the technologies that are going on the commercial trucks already; things like anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control, collision warning, brake assist and driver assist. Those are the technologies that we want already integrated into the platform we would be looking at.

“Another important area involves health monitoring,” he said. “Because so many of the components are digital, and they ‘talk’ to one another, there’s a real opportunity for our vehicles to have preventative and prognostic maintenance with the truck. We wouldn’t have to add it.”

Armor Challenge

In addition to those desired technologies, the CTT would include unique military capabilities in areas like crew protection or enhanced off-road mobility.

In the case of crew protection, for example, Godette pointed to possible approaches to the armor protection challenge. The optimum solution would depend in large part on the platform chosen as the basis for CTT.

“If the cab had the ability to add armor onto it, because both the cab and the suspension structurally could handle it, we might go to an A-kit/B-kit type of bolt-on armor solution,” he said. “In other cases, the commercial cab might not have that structure.

“In the past, we’ve had a couple of programs where we take a second approach, called a C-kit, where we pull the whole cab off and just put on a whole new cab that’s armored. So, it would depend on the starting point and the platform we have as to which would make the most sense. The important part is that we recognize we will need to protect the crew, and we would have to come up with some solution that works.”

Other Applications

Semi-autonomous and leader/follower technologies, as well as diesel, hybrid and electric propulsion technology advances, are also being monitored for potential CTT application.

“I think the vision is that the whole advantage of staying with a common tactical truck tied to industry is that we would want our truck to evolve at the same pace as the technology is evolving commercially,” Godette said. “So, when the hybrid technologies are in place commercially, that’s when we would probably shift from the current diesel technology to a hybrid combination of diesel and batteries. And then, only when battery technology and other things have moved to the point where you’re starting to see it in the commercial world would you probably see the electric vehicle in this class.”

Asked about programmatic schedules, he said it is too early in the process to project milestones or timelines. “It will depend largely on the approved requirements and the resources. As soon as we get some definition and some resources, then we can overlay the acquisition strategy and timeline,” he said. “We’ll do our best to match the strategy that delivers the product that the Army wants and can afford.”