Pumping new life into HumveesA Milwaukee firm says it could pump new life into the U.S. military's Humvee by boosting the truck's power and fuel mileage without the need for a new engine.
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Working in a small shop in the Menomonee Valley, Advanced Engines Development Corp. designed a turbo-charger and other engine components that increased the Humvee's horsepower by 11% and its fuel mileage by 12% - making the current vehicles more attractive at a time when the military is considering spending billions of dollars to replace them.
The $3,500 bolt-on engine kit could keep many of the 160,000 Humvees in service rather than having to replace them with larger, $400,000 vehicles.
"Maybe one-third of the fleet would only need an engine upgrade and a few other things," said Nick Hirsch, president of Advanced Engines Development Corp.
"It would bring that engine up to date. Nothing has been done with it for 10 years," Hirsch added.
The upgraded Humvees could perform many tasks where a larger vehicle isn't necessary.
An Army National Guard unit, for example, doesn't need a fully armored, heavy truck for carrying relief supplies to storm victims or sand bags to prevent flooding.
"It's really expensive, and probably unnecessary, to replace every Humvee with something that can withstand a roadside bomb blast," said James Hasik, a defense industry consultant in Austin, Texas.
The Canadian military has used Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks for non-combat tasks.
"They call them Milverados," Hasik said. "I don't think they need to worry about a major (roadside bomb) threat in the middle of Alberta."
Design is 25 years old
Advanced Engines has spent several years developing military-vehicle engines.
Their efforts come as the U.S. Army and Marine Corps consider a replacement for the Humvee, a vehicle designed more than 25 years ago that has not fared well against insurgent attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In 2003, troops were using just about any steel they could find to give the Humvee additional armor. They even used sandbags on the vehicle's floor to provide some protection from roadside bombs.
But the makeshift armor added weight and made the Humvee harder to control. Later, professionally built armor kits helped but were not ideal.
Hirsch envisions different versions of the Humvee based on how it would be used.
Some of the vehicles would only need a modest engine upgrade and other modifications to handle the increased demands of the military. In other cases the Humvee would be replaced with larger, better armored vehicles.
The Army and Marine Corps have awarded deals to three defense contractors to build prototypes of a vehicle that would replace the Humvee. They are competing for a contract to sell the Army and Marines thousands of vehicles that could be worth $20 billion or more.
Both services want tactical vehicles that can withstand roadside bombs and explosives, but are more agile on mountainous terrain and narrow roads than existing mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Humvee replacement is still years away from going to war.
But the Marine Corps has balked at the 20,000 pound weight of proposed Humvee replacements because the vehicles would be too heavy to be loaded into all but the Navy's largest helicopter. And the Pentagon may balk at the cost of at least $400,000 per truck.
"It isn't reasonable to think of a vehicle costing easily that much as being a replacement for one that should not cost more than $50,000," Hasik said.