Humvee system protects troops
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Futek Advanced Sensor Technology product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
May 11, 2007
The wide dynamic range of Futek's rod-end load cell (LCB400) enabled a lab to test various impact velocities and cable diameters when designing a protection system for Humvees.
Soldiers are now a little bit safer thanks to a protection system installed on the Army's Humvee vehicles.
Previously, the Army's Humvee vehicles were susceptible to a tactic used to disable vehicles and injure troops.
Insurgents would string steel wire or cable between buildings or trees that Humvees would run into, damaging the vehicle and causing serious or fatal injuries to the occupants.
This tactic was often used at night when the steel wire or cable was harder to see.
To deal with this threat, the Army Research and Development Command at Watervliet Arsenal in New York improved on a concept that was successful in protecting Humvees in Haiti during the 90s and tested it using a 1361kg LCB400 rod-end tension load cell designed by Futek.
The cable cutter consists of a long piece of channel iron with a sharp blade at the top.
The cutter is mounted on the front of the Humvee to catch any wire in the path of the vehicle.
The wire rides up the channel iron and is cut by the blade.
Of course, not every Humvee needs the cable cutter since only the lead vehicle in a convoy is at risk.
The cutter was designed to be easily installed or removed, as needed.
The devices were produced by the US Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), tested at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, and then deployed to units in Iraq that face this kind of threat.
The Army reports that no units equipped with this new cable cutter have sustained damage from this type of insurgent attack.
Futek supported this test and evaluation programme by providing the load cell that that was installed in-line with the cable to measure the cutting force on the cable.
Initial tests were conducted in the drop-test facility at the Army's Research and Development Command at Watervliet Arsenal.
The wide dynamic range of Futek's rod-end load cell (LCB400) enabled the lab to test various impact velocities and cable diameters.
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