Armored Protected Vehicles (APV)

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The art of designing is a complex combination of imagination, creative ability, ingenuity, knowledge of scientific principles and manufacturing techniques, a familiarity with materials, skill, and personal zeal. The subject of body and hull design for all types of military vehicles comprises a vast number of topics and subtopics. The principal distinction between military vehicles and their commercial counterparts is that military vehicles are specifically designed for military purposes. This includes combat operations and the transportation of cargo, personnel, or equipment. They are designed and constructed to endure the rigors of the military environment.

As the natural environment plays a major role in shaping and developing the plants and animals of nature, so does the military environment play a major role in the shaping and developing of military vehicles and equipment. It is important, therefore, that the designer of military vehicles be thoroughly acquainted and impressed with the nature of this environment. During the Cold War, it was anticipated that there would be clear distinction between the Forward Edge of the Battle Area [FEBA] - which would be the realm of combat vehicles, and the rear, the domain of utility vehicles.

This distinction tends to vanish in a low-intensity conflict environment. By 2035, the global population is expected to increase by another 1.8 billion people to a total of nearly 9 billion people, with almost all of this growth occurring in the developing world and largely centered in urban areas. Urban environments remain an extremely challenging location for conventional forces to operate. Adversaries will use urban areas to negate conventional standoff reconnaissance and strike advantages by creating sheltered locations hidden within urban clutter. The "empty battlefield" of Operation Desert Storm was good tank country. Counter-insurgency operations in urban environments are not tank friendly. Lighter vehicles, wheeled not tracked, predominate in such environments.

While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, military utility is not. Some military vehicles are suited to off-road operations - armored personnel carriers [APC] and armored infantry fighting vehciles [APC] - while others, such as armored cars, are not. Some military vehicles - Armored Protected Vechiels - may stand a chance against heavily armed insurgents, while armored cars would not. The term "armored car" is best understood as an armored hull mounted on a civilian truck chassis. Heavier vehicles such as APCs, AIFVs, and APVs, consist of an armored hull to which wheels are attached. The term APV is generally applied to vehicles with hulls configured to resist the blast from mines and IEDs.

Such distinctions are more readily made in theory than in practice. In the real world, there is a spectrum of vehicles ranging between APVs that are heavily armored, down to commercial trucks that are painted green with a bit of sheet metal armor, and everything in between. Sometimes a close examination is required to decide whether a particular vehicle is an APV, or merely a formidable looking armored car. This is not simply an esthetic or analytical judgement. Commanders and decision-makers must make choices along this spectrum as to what vehicle is most suited to anticipated missions and threats. There may be a temptation to use frail armored cars on missions for which more robust APVs are really needed. An in a world awash in munitions, and adaptive adversary may quickly overmatch whatever force the government employs.

Military vehicles are classified into three broad categories; namely, combat vehicles, tactical vehicles, and utility or administrative vehicles. The latter category, administrative vehicles, comprises the standard, commercially available vehicles used largely at camps, posts, stations, and various Government installations for routine administrative duties. Vehicles of this category are of only minor concern to the military designer.

• Combat vehicles are usually equipped with both armor and armament; although certain antitank vehicles are unarmored and depend upon their resulting decreased silhouette and increased speed and maneuverability for protection. A continuing demand for increased firepower and increased mobility has resulted in an increasing use of lightweight armor on vehicle bodies and hulls. The resulting reduction in vehicle weight enables what would otherwise be heavy vehicles to partake in airborne operations and it also improves their amphibious capabilities.
• Tactical vehicles are generally defined as vehicles that have been designed and manufactured specifically to meet the severe requirements imposed by combat and tactical operations in the field. Whereas combat vehicles are defined as vehicles designed to perform specific functions in combat, tactical vehicles are vehicles specifically designed to support the tactical play of the operation. Since the main purpose of tactical vehicles is to give direct support to the combat vehicles, they are required to have the same high level of mobility as do combat vehicles.
• Utility or administrative vehicles comprises the standard, commercially available vehicles used largely at camps, posts, stations, and various Government installations for routine administrative duties. Vehicles of this category are of only minor concern to the military designer.

In general, the degree of ballistic protection considered desirable for combat vehicles varies inversely with the distance behind the forward edge of the battle area (FEBA) that its missions are expected to take it. Exceptions to this are vehicles that rely on their speed and maneuverability to reduce their vulnerability. When operating close to the FEBA, the vehicle is within range of the enemy's direct fire weapons; the probability of being hit is relatively high; and heavy armor protection is required against these weapons. In rear areas, the probability of attack by direct fire weapons is greatly decreased and the threat is from predicted fire weapons, indirect fire, and from attack by aircraft using small caliber high rate-of-fire weapons, cannon, rockets, or bombs. Although a direct hit from these weapons can be lethal to a vehicle, the probability of a direct hit is relatively low because of the difficulties encountered in these types of attack. This is the basis for reducing the amount of armor required on rear vehicles.

Unfortunately, there are no firmly established rules governing the amount of ballistic protection required by vehicles. A rule-of-thumb often applied to armored vehicles states they should have sufficient ballistic protection on their fronts and turrets to defeat a direct hit from a weapon equal to the ones with which they are equipped. The price of heavy ballistic protection, however, is high in terms of vehicle weight, size, power requirements, speed, maneuverability, as well as monetary costs. In order to minimize these, a degree of risk must be accepted.

The terms body and hull are used somewhat interchangeably in military automotive circles to designate the portion of an automotive vehicle that comprises the functional compartments, i.e., the compartments which house the cargo, passengers, or crew. As originally used, the term hull was restricted to the enclosing structures of track-laying tank-type vehicles, while body was used with reference to wheeled vehicles. Wheeled vehicle hulls are identical to tracked vehicle hulls and differ from them only in physical appearance.

Armored vehicles have hulls of sufficient thickness and rigidity that a load carrying frame is not necessary. In any case, the completed hull serves as the main frame, compartment and housing for the propulsion system, crew, passengers, cargo, and equipment, and provides a base for mounting the turret (in the case of tank-type vehicles), the suspension components, and the armament.

In the early 20th Century, armored cars were built upon standard automotive chassis. They were both armed and armored, and equipped with radio communication equipment. Its primary function, in addition to providing high-speed mobility, was to perform combat reconnaissance and provide defense firepower when needed. Vehicles of this type were also used as field commanders' vehicles in mechanized and armored units. They had secondary functions as personnel and cargo carriers. Some models existed whose primary function was to provide mobile armored protection for personnel and cargo. In these vehicles, the turret was omitted and the hull was modified to facilitate cargo loading and unloading.

The separate frame and body type of vehicle construction is the most common construction technique employed by vehicle manufacturers, particularly in the field of cargo vehicles. In this type of construction, the chassis frame and the vehicle body are separate entities, each a complete unit by itself. The chassis frame is designed to support the weight of the body and absorb all of the loads imposed by the terrain, suspension system, power plant, drive train, and steering system; while the body merely contains and, in some cases, protects the cargo. The body is generally bolted to the frame at a few discrete points to allow for flexure of the frame and to distribute the loads to the intended load carrying members.

In contrast, Armored Personnel Carriers [APC] and Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicles [AIFV] have an integrated frame and body. The integral frame and body type of construction, also referred to as unitized construction, combines the frame and body into a single, one-piece structure by welding components together, by forming or casting the entire structure as one piece, or by a combination of these techniques.

Merely welding a conventional body to a conventional chassis frame, however, does not constitute an integral frame and body construction. In a truly integrated structure, the entire frame-body unit is treated as a load-carrying member that reacts to all of the loads experienced by the vehicle-road loads as well as cargo loads.

Between the extremes of pure monocoque construction and the simply integrated frame and body is the semi-monocoque body, which is the type that is more practical to achieve. In this type of construction, the sheet metal panels are subjected to the bending and torsional loads experienced by the structure but they are reinforced by stiffening members selectively placed on axes of inherent panel weakness.