An M984 wrecker or heavy expanded mobility tactical truck, assigned to Forward Support Company (FSC), 891st Engineer Battalion, is staged at the end of a convoy before leaving Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, Dec. 30, 2020. (Staff Sgt. Luke Wilson/US Army)
WASHINGTON: The US Army’s future Common Tactical Truck will be an “essential transportation link” for soldiers on the future multi-domain battlefield, according to service acquisition documents posted online.
The common tactical truck would replace several legacy vehicles and give the Army a modernized platform that’s designed to allow the service to take advantage of emerging technologies — so even it won’t be left out of the service’s broader sprint toward multi-domain operations.
According to a “Future Operational Concept” laid out in the service’s presentation to industry, the truck will long-haul and local-haul roles transporting cargo across a conflict zone, including deep into the battlefield.
“The CTTs [common tactical trucks] serve as an essential transportation link between Strategic Ports and ‘the Tip of the Spear’ providing the MDO force with ability to deploy, move, and maneuver where and when desired to accomplish the mission,” the slides said.
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While trucks may not appear to be a critical enabler of multi-domain warfare, the Army presentations states that the truck will have MDO requirements such as manned/unmanned delivery, AI-enabled operations and maintenance, and the ability to operate in degraded and denied environments.
“The Army fleet lags behind commercial industry in the digitization revolution and is not in a position to take advantage of the rapidly advancing fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, autonomous operations, driver safety systems, and predictive maintenance, diagnostics, and prognostics,” the Army draft abbreviated specifications documents states. “The CTT FoV should be common with commercial industry and allow rapid integration of future technologies.”
The industry slides also show that the services has its eye on incorporating future technologies beyond MDO-related components like hybridization and electrification.
Common tactical trucks will replace the Army’s Palletized Load System, M915 line haul Truck Tractor and the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck. Army documents show that CTTs will have five different variants: load handling system, off road tractor, line haul tractor, fueler and cargo.
The service’s primary goal with the CTT is to develop a family of common trucks that use the same components, such as power train, transmission and chassis. Those features would make it far easier for the service to sustain and maintain those vehicles and reduce the complexity of its supply chain.
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The service plans to use its rapid prototyping acquisition path to acquire the vehicles. Its draft timeline shows that its request for prototype proposals could be released in the third quarter of fiscal 2022 with an other transaction authority award to begin the prototyping process in the following quarter. Prototype assessment would throughout most of fiscal year 2024.
If the Army continues forward with the new trucks, it wants to take advantage of industry’s latest innovations in driver safety, drive by wire and increased fuel efficiency. The service wants the trucks to provide all classes of supply, containerized cargo, bridging equipment, breakbulk cargo and “various” other missions in the future.
Product Manager Heavy Tactical vehicles at Program Executive Office for Combat Support and Combat Services Support leads the CTT program.
