Troop carriers: combat vehicle designs seek increased utility in multiple roles.

• Author: Jean, Grace
• Position: ARMORED VEHICLES

PARIS -- Combat vehicles are being developed to keep pace with soldiers' evolving battlefield roles.

Those vehicles increasingly are wheeled, armored and modular, and are incorporating designs that cater to the requirements of ground troops. Many of them will provide soldiers with energy sources, information and weapons they will need to fight, while giving them added protection.

The prevalence of such vehicles at one of the largest ground warfare expositions reveals a trend in how armies are choosing to insert their troops into hot spots. Light armored vehicles have become the preferred mode of infantry transport into battlefields that increasingly encompass urban landscapes and a wider range of operations.

The Boxer, an eight-wheeled, 25-ton armored vehicle developed by the Munich-based consortium ARTEC, resembles the U.S. Army's Stryker combat vehicle with one major exception: Its interchangeable mission module design allows any Boxer platform to switch functions, from armored personnel carrier to command post to ambulance to cargo carrier.

"The great advantage here is the possibility to change the mission module to get the vehicle in a new role in a short amount of time. You can go into a military operation with one module, and if your mission changes, then you change the mission modules, and you can support humanitarian operations and so forth. So it's very, very flexible," says Lt. Col. Jochen Rheinhardt, procurement officer for the German army.

Inside the Boxer personnel carrier on display here during the Eurosatory exhibition, Rheinhardt points out how the vehicle, which can accommodate 10 soldiers, has been designed with the German future warrior, the Infanterist der Zukunft, in mind.

Instead of the two long benches found inside the Stryker infantry carrier variant, individual molded ergonomic seats, padded with cushions, line the sides of the Boxer personnel carrier. Each seat can accommodate a fully equipped soldier, or he can choose to stow his gear in a compartment found behind his backrest. There are adjustable headrests and armrests that allow each soldier to tailor his seating arrangement. For additional safety, seat belts--with built in airbags--strap the warriors into their seats. When deployed, the airbags will stabilize the head, especially when soldiers are wearing helmets, says Rheinhardt.

In the armrests, there is a weapon holder and a single outlet where the infantryman can plug his future soldier ensemble kit into...