Truck makers pursue niche market for small air-transportable vehicles.

• Author: Jean, Grace V.

* It has been more than a decade since the Marine Corps launched a program to develop a truck that was sturdy enough for combat but small and light enough to fit inside the V-22 Osprey.

The project continues to this day, while contractors have found other customers for their small trucks.

General Dynamics Corp. has teamed with Flyer Defense LLC to develop a 60-inch wide tactical vehicle that is transportable inside a V-22 Osprey. The Flyer looks like a cross between a Humvee and a Jeep.

Weapons such as the 7.62mm firearm or the MK-19 machine gun can be taken off in a matter of minutes and replaced with storage facilities for medical equipment, for instance, said Scott Ridley, program manager for General Dynamics.

The 4,000-pound vehicle can carry payloads up to 3,500 pounds. A bolt-on armor kit weighs an additional 1,500 pounds. The driver sits behind a steering wheel centrally located in the dashboard.

"If he gets injured, the front seat passenger can stick his left foot [on the gas pedal] and drive," explained Ridley. The vehicle can hit a top speed of 85 mph.

A wider variant is also in development, Ridley said. At 72 inches wide, that vehicle could accommodate a heavier payload and would be transportable inside the CH-47 Chinook helicopter and the CH-53 Sea Stallion family of heavy-lift helicopters.

General Dynamics is marketing the Flyer to customers outside the Marine Corps. It is pursuing the Air Force's Guardian Angel air-droppable rescue vehicle program. It is a replacement truck for the all-terrain vehicles currently employed by the service's pararescuemen, who perform combat search-and-rescue operations.

The...