Military's new 'light' truck defies laws of physics.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: UPFRONT

When did buying trucks become "rocket science?"

Unlike most other high-tech weapon procurements, trucks have been relative straightforward affairs. The issues typically involve cargo capacity, off-road mobility, fuel efficiency and other basic performance specs.

The latest Pentagon effort to acquire a replacement for the humvee, however, takes truck buying to a whole new level

What makes the joint light tactical vehicle such a tough challenge is that the Army and the Marine Corps are seeking to buy a "light" truck that is fast and agile, but that also can survive roadside bombs.

To some experts, that is a goal that defies the laws of physics. But it is an understandable one, given the catastrophic consequences of sending troops into Iraq in 2003 in unarmored humvees.

Army and Marine officials said they expect to begin the design and development phase of JLTV next year. To outside observers, the schedule is far too ambitious. JLTV already faces significant delays that resulted from new directives from the Defense Department's acquisition chief, John Young. He told the services in late August to rewrite their JLTV wish lists based on what could realistically be accomplished with existing technologies. He also directed them to build functioning prototypes of their desired vehicles to ensure the designs worked as promised.

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"Young is a firm believer in reducing complexity and ambiguity as early on as possible," said Marine Corps Col. William E. Taylor, program executive officer for land systems. "He is trying to sift through all the ambiguity."

In this case the ambiguity is more like an impracticality. The services want to build a light truck--which technically would weigh no more than 12,000 pounds--with the same level of ballistic protection that is found in the 40,000 pound mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored vehicles. "You have physics working against you," Taylor said in an interview. "There may be an unrealistic expectation that you can provide MRAP-like protection, but it's a much more complex equation."

The Marine Corps is proposing to buy possibly three or four variants of JLTV, each with a different weight goal, so that they can "address the entire spectrum" of protection requirements, Taylor said.

The Army has yet to settle on many of the JLTV specs and numbers of variants, but, like the Marine Corps, it is struggling with how to make the vehicle light and survivable at the same time.

"This is rocket...