Angus Batey has been contributing to various titles within the Aviation Week Network since 2009. He has reported from military bases, industrial facilities, trade shows and conferences, on topics ranging from defense and space to business aviation, advanced air mobility and cybersecurity.
Those wondering how the defense industry will cope in the new age of austerity sweeping many countries found answers at Defense Vehicle Dynamics 2010. The show, presented here in June by Defense Equipment and Support (DE&S), the equipment acquisition and support wing of the U.K. Defense Ministry, is a window on new technologies and platforms. The dominant trend this year, however, was squeezing greater utility out of current equipment.
Demand for vehicle power increases as protection requirements go up. Two recent technology demonstrator programs, funded by the U.K. Defense Ministry and overseen by contractor Qinetiq, point the way to a quickly adaptable set of protective systems based on “plug-and-play” software architecture that will allow a rapid response to changing threats while enabling troop-carrying vehicles to generate significantly more energy to power them.
One challenge of Afghan roads is finding any that are passable—at least for large vehicles. Most of the country is connected by trails that cannot support the mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) trucks used in Iraq. France and the U.K. went into the theater with lighter, more mobile vehicles and lost people to roadside bombs. France is now introducing a more mobile, heavily protected vehicle, while a smaller protected truck is under development in the U.K.
