Land Warfare: Vehicle sustainment in the field | ADM October 2012

Maintaining armoured vehicles in Afghanistan is, needless to say, a different proposition to running the family sedan down to the local garage for its regular service.

Not only will the vehicles have experienced extremes of temperature and terrain, they will have done so while heavily loaded and responding to performance demands on which their operators’ lives may well have depended.

The ADF currently has more than 100 Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles (PMV) and about 20 Australian Light Armoured Vehicles (ASLAVS) deployed in Afghanistan, together with an undisclosed number of specialist Special Forces platforms.

Additionally there’s a range of protected B vehicles – Landrovers, Unimogs and Mack trucks -together with armoured engineering plant.

Although most Australian troops are scheduled to have been withdrawn from theatre by the end of 2013, no plans have yet been finalised for the repatriation of vehicles, a number of which will still required to support the Special Forces element that is expected to remain in place beyond 2013.

Indeed, far from vehicles being withdrawn, new-production Bushmasters incorporating the latest protective modifications are continuing to be flown into Afghanistan to replace older PMVs which are being returned to Australia for remediation, return to a configuration baseline and re-entry into Army’s raise/train/sustain environment.

Nearly all the work on ADF vehicles in Afghanistan is carried out by a military maintenance component which is built into the in-theatre force structure.

The majority of the work is undertaken at the maintenance and repair facility at Multinational Base Tarin Kowt where Australia’s Mentoring Task Force and Special Operations Task Group are located. Should operational circumstances require it, all but heavy maintenance and repairs can be carried out at patrol bases by technicians travelling from Tarin Kowt.

At home vs. overseas

According to Lieutenant-Colonel Damian McLachlan, Staff Officer Equipment Management, maintenance is baselined on the same time frequency and usage schedules that are used in Australia, the difference in-theatre being that heavier usage triggers more frequent inspections and services.

“The fact that these vehicles are being used in a far higher tempo than in Australia creates increased wear and there are three ways you can describe the challenges,” LTCOL McLachlan said. “There’s the operational use based on the increased weight due to increased protection, the fact that the soldiers are carrying body armour and additional ammunition and they’re going out on longer-duration patrols. The heavier weight creates some challenges on the working parts of the vehicle, on the running gear, on the electrical systems and all the things which operate the ancillaries.

“Climate is another big issue. In the middle of the winter it snows, in the summer it’s more than 40 deg, and these extremes are hard on the vehicle.

“Distance can also be a problem; how far vehicles may be deployed from the main maintenance areas and if they do break something that is unusual, the problem of getting those unique parts from the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) to them.”

Changing temperatures and a mix of onroad and off-road operations meant it was vital to monitor and adjust tyre pressures through the central tyre inflation systems fitted to both ASLAV and Bushmaster.

“Lubricants are another issue – what you use in the middle of an Afghan winter is unlikely to work as well in the middle of summer. And the dust has to be dealt with. Equipment husbandry, looking after the equipment, cleaning it down, getting the dust out of it, is far more relevant because you know those vehicles will be operating in theatre over a long period of time and you don’t want bearings to seize up,” LTCOL McLachlan noted. “There’s a large requirement on the operators to perform non-technical inspections and servicing at the start and end of every day, together with more comprehensive weekly and monthly inspections in addition to the scheduled servicing by the technical people. The operators and the maintainers in theatre all work very long days.”

Testing

Maintainers benefit from the tests undertaken on in-service vehicles at the DMO’s Land Engineering Agency at Monegeetta in Victoria.

The large climatic chambers at Monegeetta can create environments of up to 73 deg Celsius and down to minus 33 degree Celsius, as well as muggy conditions with up to 98 per cent humidity. Tests in these environments inform maintenance procedures and the resilience of equipment when bombarded with dust, salt and heavy rain.

Usage patterns have dictated the content of what Lt-Col McLachlan described as a substantial spares inventory at Tarin Kowt, and ADF vehicles in Afghanistan continue to have priority for parts.

Some specialist equipment, mainly electronic, is returned to Australia or to the OEM for repair but that is generally for a breakdown of an unusual nature.

“Regular maintenance and servicing and replacing some things we can do intheatre. It’s where we have to open the boxes and OEM Intellectual Property or security implications are involved that we’ll send something back. But we have a flexible supply chain, it’s working effectively, and we can generally supply parts very quickly unless it’s for one of those things you never expected to happen.”

Although the US Stryker is a more recent development of the LAV family than ASLAV, some components remain common and can be drawn from the US supply chain, he added.

Any ASLAVS or Bushmasters damaged or destroyed by IEDs are returned to Australia, either for repair or to allow a battle damage assessment aimed at identifying the type and effectiveness of the IED and improving protection wherever possible.

“But if it’s not an IED strike we can pretty much repair everything in theatre with the exception of those specialist electronic systems where there are IP or configuration issues involved. The ASLAV’s electric turret is a complex piece of equipment but we carry out maintenance on it in the field in Australia and we’re able to do the same in Afghanistan.”

Placing security concerns to one side, even in East Timor and the Solomon Islands the tendency is to retain maintenance and repair work inhouse - “that way we know that our standards and our requirements are maintained”.

The same holds true for OEM field personnel, known as In-Service Representatives (ISRs).

“The Brits and the Americans have some vehicle types that they only operate in-theatre and therefore they do use some ISRs.

“But we’ve got a fairly large fleet and even with our specialist plant equipment we might have three in Afghanistan and one in Australia so the guys can train on it at home before they deploy overseas to maintain it in-theatre, although ISRs can have a role in upgrades.”

Upgrades

Handling such upgrades and changes in configuration to the deployed ASLAV and Bushmaster fleets involves either personnel already in-theatre, flying in additional ADF or public service technicians from Australia, using ISRs, or a mix of all three.

The path is smoothed by preparatory work undertaken in Australia by the Defence Materiel Organisation on how the modifications should be implemented, and by whom.

“The development cycle for our equipment is so much faster in Afghanistan. Because the threat environment changes so quickly the requirements of the vehicles also change quickly and we have to have a much faster adaption cycle for it,” commented LTCOL McLachlan.

“The Bushmaster is a good example; I think we’ve learnt far more with the PMV because it was deployed straight into operations than we have with other vehicle types that we’ve had for years and then taken into theatre.”

ASLAVS transferred from Iraq to Afghanistan mounted bar armour as protection against rocket-propelled grenades, but this was removed when IEDs were identified as the primary threat in the new theatre, and US Marine Corps armoured belly plates, new spall liners and blastresistant driver seats were fitted.

The introduction of the Bushmaster presaged a new outlook.

“Previously Army was focused on just what the platform would provide. We’ve got an ASLAV, there it is,” LTCOL McLachan said. “Now we’re concentrating more and more on integrating our platforms to give us their full capabilities.

“With the PMV we’ve integrated new force protection measures based on the intheatre feedback on IEDs, we’ve integrated radios, we’ve integrated a remote weapons station and because of the power requirements of the new ancillaries we’ve had to upgrade the alternator and upgrade the battery system.

“All these in-theatre modifications have gone through the same process of ensuring they’re fit for service, safe to operate, and environmentally compliant.”

After Afghanistan

Meanwhile the future of the ADF’s vehicle fleet and other equipment in Afghanistan in relation to the scheduled pullout is currently being assessed.

“The important equipment that we use regularly in Australia as part of our in-service inventory, where possible we bring that equipment back home,” LTCOL McLachan said. “We acquired a certain number of Bushmasters to achieve our raise/train/sustain obligations and although some of these have been deployed into theatre we still need to bring those back to meet our force requirements as they are.

“Some equipment was acquired via the rapid acquisition program and we’re currently reviewing that to determine what the long-term requirements are and whether it’s cost-effective to bring it back. Some of that equipment has been identified in other defence projects and we’re looking at whether it’s worthwhile bringing it back now and maintaining that capability until the projects deliver in several years’ time.

“We have to be the good corporate citizen and do what’s right, but we’re also trying at the same time to maintain capability.”

Leaving some equipment behind for Afghan forces was an option but one with a price.

“There are directions coming out of Afghanistan about your responsibilities if you decide to gift equipment to the Afghan security forces and some of those obligations are more onerous than returning that equipment to Australia,” LTCOL McLachlan disclosed.

“We’re working out a cost-benefit analysis for individual equipment including vehicles but if we still require that equipment in Australia then there’s more benefit for us to bring that equipment home.”

How this would be achieved is also under study but the options are limited – military or commercial shipping, military or commercial airlift, with a strong focus on cost-effectiveness.