Graduate Studies in Combat Vehicle Technology

Graduate Studies in Combat Vehicle Technology by Richard M. Ogorklewlcz The design and development of combat vehicles is a demanding process which calls for a high degree of specialized knowledge and skill on the part of those involved in it. Some of that knowledge and skill can be acquired by operating combat vehicles. More of it can be acquired by actually working on the design and development of combat vehicles. But to’ operate or work on combat vehicles generally involves concentration on particular tasks or problems, which leaves little time for the acquisition of knowledge and experience outside the areas of immediate concern. In consequence, this way of acquiring wider knowledge tends to be very protracted, even though it is the best in several respects. There is, therefore, a need for additional opportunities for acquiring the relevant knowledge. In particular, there is a need for acquiring a sound, broad-based understanding of combat vehicle technology and for doing it more rapidly than is possible by working on a job, or at an earlier state of the career of those involved in the design and development of combat vehicles. All this has been recognized by the creation at the Royal Military College of Science in England of a graduate course in Military Vehicle Technology. Apart from meeting an important need, the MVT course is believed to be the only one of its Headquarters of the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham. kind in the whole Western World, which in itself makes it of considerable interest. The writer is also able to comment on it from firsthand experience, having been invited to act as an external academic examiner to it. The Royal Military College What the MVT course offers is based on a sound academic foundation provided by the well-established record of the Royal Military College of Science. In fact, RMCS can trace its ancestry to 1772, when at England’s oldest arsenal at Wool-wich a society was formed for the scientific study of gunnery. From this grew a university-type military institution, which since WW I1 has been located on a spacious campus at Shrivenham, some ‘80 miles west of London. The basic function of RMCS is to provide scientific and technological education to military personnel in the form of a three-year bachelor of science program and a large number of specialist courses ranging in duration from a few days to six months. The RMCS also collaborates with the British Army Staff College at Camberley in running the scientific and technological parts of the Army Staff Course. In addition to the MVT course, it runs other graduate courses in military systems and technology and it also carries out research for the British Ministry of Defense and for industrial organizations. All this implies that the MVT course is run against a wide background of academic and military activities, which ensures that it is comprehensive and relevant to current military problems. The MVT course also enjoys the advantage of the facilities provided by the RMCS, which include not only conventional engineering laboratories but also such things as an instructional collection of modern British and other armored vehicles and a unique teaching exhibit in the form of a wide range of standard and experimental tank guns. Military Vehicle Technology Course The MVT course itself consists of a short introductory period, a core September-October 1987 of compulsory subject modules, a number of supplementary optional subject modules, and individual projects. The purpose of the introductory studies is to revise or u p date students’ knowledge of basic academic subjects and, in particular, of applied mathematics and computing. Once this is over, the emphasis shifts to the nine compulsory subjects which range from power plants and transmission systems through vehicle dynamics and soil-vehicle mechanics to armor protection and combat vehicle weapon systems. The optional subjects, of which there are 11 - and at least three of which have to be taken - are intended to provide more specialized or advanced knowledge of the subjects already introduced in the compulsory modules, or of other subjects, such as ballistics, electronics and guided weapons. Teaching of the various subjects is intended to bring out the principles of military vehicle technology and to lead to a proper understanding not only of the technology of vehicle components but also of vehicle design as a whole. This goes hand in hand with attention given to the analysis and evaluation of vehicle concepts and to the interrelationship between them, threat assessments and user requirements. In addition to the teaching program, and running in parallel with it during the whole of the course, there are the individual projects. Their general purpose is to enable students to develop their skills in research, design and development. But through them students can also acquire expertise in areas of vehicle technology that are of particular interest to them. The projects are invariably related to current, practical problems. Individual Projects The problems addressed in the individual projects vary widely. Together with their practical relevance, this makes them a particularly interesting part of the Fully instrumented scale model of a main battle tank, designed and built as part of MVT course project on suspensions. MVT course. Only a few examples can be quoted here. One recent project involved a comparison of the theoretical and experimentally ohserved distribution of pressure under the tracks of a model vehicle. This is of particular interest in relation to the increasing use of mean maximum pressure (MMP), that is, the average of the peaks of pressure under the tracks of vehicles, as a more accurate measure of the soft-soil capabilities of vehicles than the nominal ground pressure used for this purpose until now. Another recent project formed part of a series that started with the design and construction of a remotely-controlled scale model of a tracked vehicle with a suspension carefully modeled on that of a contemporary battle tank. This model was then used in other projects to validate experimentally computer 22 predictions of suspension behavior and to assist in the development of a computer simulation of obstacle crossing by tracked vehicles which would be more precise than that currently incorporated in the NATO Reference Mobility Model. One of two other projects that might be singled out was concerned with the influence of different types of tires on the handling of an armored scout car, which threw light on some puzzling aspects of its behavior at high speeds. The second of the projects involved a detailed investigation into the efficiency of tracked vehicle transmissions and of the consequent losses of power hetween the engine and the track sprockets, which have a major influence on the performance of combat vehicles. The results of such projects can clearly contrihute to the solution or at least to a better understanding of current problems. Each project is written up in the form of a thesis and this, toget her with examinations at the end of the course, forms the basis of the assessment of the student. The successful completion of the one-year course leads to the award of a Master of Science degree and makes its graduates qualified to play an effective role in the design, development, or procurement of combat vehicles. Most students on the MVT Course have come from the British Army, usually in the rank of captain, and from British government research establishments and defense industry. However, the course is not confined to British students and has been attended by others, from the Australian, Canadian, and Indian armies and, most recently, from the Republic of Singapore. One very beneficial result of this has been that it brings together students with-ca wide variety of experience. Fighting Vehicles Diploma Course The range of students’ backgrounds and contacts is about to be extended still further by the creation of a Fighting Vehicles Diploma Course. This new course is to be run in parallel with the MVT course and will share with it some of the subject modules. However, the FVD course is less intensive academically and technologically than the MVT course. Instead, it is oriented more toward the military problems facing armor officers and in particular toward the procurement and operation of combat vehicles. In fact, the FVD course takes the place of the so-called Long Armour Special research vehicle with large wheel movement used to study active suspensions. and Infantry Course which has been run for many years at the Armour School at the Royal Armoured Corps Center at Bovington Camp - the British equivalent of Fort Knox That course is well known to many U.S. armor officers who have attended it over the years as students, together with armor officers from the Australian, Canadian, Federal German, as well as British armies. The course is being discontinued as a result of a recent reorganization within the British Army. However, the reputation which it gained, and the contribution which it made to the education and training of armor officers, should be maintained by the new FVD Course at the Royal Military College of Science, which will enjoy the added advantage of being closely linked with the MVT course.

RICHARD M. OGORKIE-

WlCZ is a London-based consulting engineer recognized as a leading authority on AFVs. The author of two books on armor and more than 300 articles - including 75 in ARMOR Magazine - he is now working on a new book on tank technology. September-October 1987