Overarching Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Study

The Overarching Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Study was conducted to determine the best mix of light, medium, and heavy tactical wheeled vehicles to meet Marine Corps tactical lift requirement in 2007. The study objectives included identifying the overall tactical wheeled vehicle lift requirement; developing alternative vehicle fleet mixes that met that requirement; comparing the costs, risks, and benefits of alternatives; and investigating issues associated with transitioning the tactical wheeled vehicle fleet to meet the tactical lift requirement in 2015. The study objectives were met, and the study provides recommendations both for the composition of the tactical wheeled vehicle fleet in 2007 and for steps needed to transition that fleet to 2015.

Congress recently requested a study of the U.S. ground combat and tactical wheeled vehicle fleets. The authors reveal risks in the technologies required to close capability gaps, the business processes used by the U.S. Department of Defense in managing vehicle production and modification initiatives, and the modeling and simulation process supporting research, development, and acquisition, making recommendations for mitigating these risks.

THe study was to accomplish the following objectives: determine the payload categories and types of tactical wheeled vehicles which would best meet the needs of the Army; prepare an acquisition program to include specification of the number, type, and cost of vehicles required to transition from the existing fleet to the preferred fleet; develop an implementation schedule to align current requirements document's Table of Organization and Equipment/Basis of Issue Plans (TOE/BOIP) with study results.

The analysis referenced in this report was an extension of the Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Fleet Study Phase 1 conducted in March-October 1980. The analysis investigated the impact of changes made in the U.S. Army's tactical wheeled vehicle fleet in terms of aircraft requirements needed to move U.S. Army units. The Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC) Air Scheduling and Loading Model (ASLM) was used to calculate aircraft sorties required to move a type Infantry Division, a Mechanized Infantry Division, an Airmobile Division, an Airborne Division, and a Corps Support Force closely tailored to the Airborne D Package. Aircraft sorties were calculated for each unit tailored to each of alternatives 1, 2, and 9 of the Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Fleet Study. A comparison was then made of sorties required to move the alternative 2 and 9 tailored forces against sorties required to move the corresponding alternative 1 (base case) tailored force. The calculated number of aircraft sorties required for a strategic/intertheater deployment of the type units referenced in this analysis ranged from a low of 771 aircraft (691 C141B and 80 C5A) for the alternative 1 configured Airmobile Division to a high of 1491 aircraft (999 C141B and 492 C5A) for the alternative 9 configured Mechanized Infantry Division. In a strategic/intertheater air deployment, the impact of alternative 2 compared to alternative 1 ranged from a 1.4 percent increase in total aircraft for the Airmobile Division to a 4.3 percent increase in total aircraft for the Airborne Division. In a similar comparison between alternative 9 and alternative 1, the impact ranged from a 3.6 percent increase for the Airmobile Division to a 7.7 percent increase for the Infantry Division.

Introduction -- Building the status profiles of the heavy and medium TWV fleets -- Status profiles of the heavy and medium TWV fleets -- Recommendations and closing remarks -- APPENDIX: Profiles of the individual heavy TWV models -- Profiles of the individual medium TWV models -- Examination of the light TWV fleet-- Improving the Army's knowledge base.

This thesis addresses the problem of optimizing the U.S. Army's Light Tactical Wheeled Vehicle (LTWV) fleet over the next 15 years. To achieve these ends we created a multiple objective decision analysis (MODA) model which assigns a value to each vehicle in the LTWV fleet, as well as a linear program (LP) which allows decision makers to find feasible modernization strategies for the LTWV fleet subject to multiple constraints such as budget and operational readiness. The MODA assigns a value to every individual vehicle variant depending upon its measures of performance in several categories. Those values are used by the LTWV LP to prescribe solutions for decision makers. We implemented the LTWV LP using notional data and ran initial analyses to demonstrate the program's validity. Possible analyses include varying any of the LTWV LP inputs, such as operational, budgetary, and age requirements, as well as procurement availability bounds. The project serves as a conceptual framework for future refinement of the decision tool requested by the U.S. Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM).

This is a Department of Army directed study designed to answer the question on tactical wheeled vehicle fleet composition and requirements as posed by the House Appropriations Committee of the United States Congress. The methodology used the automated procedures established throughout the Army for defining requirements and developing procurement programs. These procedures are applied to eight alternative vehicle fleets and the results are compared to a base case to establish the preferred alternative. (Author).

Contents: Study Directive; Study Plan; Proponent Summaries of Toe Analysis; Alternative Data Summaries; Off-Line Analysis of Ammunition and POL Requirements for Armor, Artillery and Mechanized Infantry Battalions; Wartime Active Replacement Factors (WARF); Development Costs-Constant FY 82 Dollars (Thousands) Alternatives 1-9; Development Costs - Current Year Dollars (Thousands) Alternatives 1-9; and Driver Costs - Current Year Dollars (Millions) Alternatives 1-9.