The Light Infantry Division:The Light Protected Truck

The Light Protected Truck shall be the primary combat vehicle of the Light Infantry Division.

Photo:Sergeant Andy Reddy R.L.C./M.O.D.

The Light Protected Truck shall be a family of front engined four and six wheeled,all wheel drive protected vehicles. 

Photo:Sgt. 1st Class Luis Saavedra 10th Mountain Division Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs Office United States Army

The combat ready four wheeled base vehicle shall have a gross weight of eight long tons,a payload of four thousand pounds including a five hundred pound weapon system and a two man crew with eight passengers,weighing three hundred and fifty pounds each,(or two pallets or one Ox) in a cabin protected by armour against small arms fire,mines,fragmentation (to STANAG 4569 Levels 3,3a and 3b) and by means of netting against occasional rocket propelled grenade hits.

Photo:Andrew Linnett/M.O.D.

It's armament shall be manually operated by the vehicle commander,it shall weigh five hundred pounds and include a complete,dismountable medium machinegun weapon system chambered in the three eighths inch by four inch cartridge with sixteen hundred rounds of ammunition in eight thirty five pound tins,and a mounting which shall include a skate,pintle,buffer,gunshield and ammunition racks.

Photo:L.A.(Phot.) Gaz Faulkner/M.O.D.

The four wheeled Light Protected Truck shall be the standard vehicle of the British Army Light Infantry Division,Royal Marines Light Infantry units,Royal Flying Corps Regiment and Reconnaissance Corps' Long Range Reconnaissance units in addition to being widely used by Army and other troops.

Photo:Sgt. Wes Calder R.L.C. Crown Copyright

The six wheeled base vehicle shall be similar to the four wheeled base vehicle but have two more wheels (and associated brakes,suspension,joints,halfshafts differentials etc.),uprated transmission and a larger engine,both four and six wheeled variants shall be available with a variety of bodies.

Photo:Spc. Austin Berner United States Army

When combat ready it shall have a wet weight of less than eight long tons and a gross weight of twelve tons with a payload of at least ninety two hundred pounds typically made up of a driver and commander weighing three hundred and fifty pounds each,a five hundred pound three eights inch machinegun weapon system and two four thousand pound pallets or any equivalent load.

Photo:M.O.D.

The six wheeled Light Protected Truck shall be widely issued to unit "B echelons" in Medium Infantry Divisions,Heavy Cavalry Divisions and Corps' Headquarters and Train Divisions as well as being widely used by Army troops and others.

Photo:J.C.B.

The most elaborate variant of the Light Protected Truck family shall be the Light Protected Tractor,issued as required to logistical,engineering and aviation units and used for a very wide range of tasks.

Photo:MKFI

However,to maximise flexibility and economies of manufacture,design and support,most specialist variants,such as command,recovery and ambulance vehicles,shall be base vehicles with bolt on equipment packages to adapt them to particular tasks,for example the base vehicle may be fitted with two stretchers in lieu of four seats.

Photo:Graeme Main Crown Copyright

To reduce cost and weight by avoiding wasteful duplication,as far as is practical,the Light Infantry shall use the same man portable weapons,sensors,communications and even command tents (which should never be fixed to vehicles) when operating with vehicles which they use when operating on foot,their vehicles being simple transport assets which may be used as fighting positions,not complex mounted combat vehicles. 

Photo:Richard Watt/M.O.D.

The internal volume,shape and payload of the four wheeled Light Protected Truck shall be identical to that of the base four wheeled Field Car,Medium Infantry Vehicle and Cavalry Heavy ARmoured vehicle,such that internal equipment fits designed for one of these also fit the others.

Photo:Senior Airman Justyn M. Freeman

Any Light Protected Truck shall fit inside a standard twenty foot shipping container with less than one hour's preparation by it's crew.

Photo:L.Phot. Dan Rosenbaum/M.O.D.

A Super Merlin or Ultra Merlin helicopter shall be able to lift a four wheeled Light Protected Truck at it's gross weight or a six wheeled Light Protected Truck at it's wet weight.

Photo:Sergeant Andy Reddy R.L.C./M.O.D.

A Centaurus aircraft shall be able to air land sixteen four wheeled Light Protected Trucks at their gross weight of eight long tons or sixteen six wheeled Light Protected Trucks at their combat ready wet,but empty,weight.

A Centaurus aircraft shall be able to airdrop eight Light Protected Trucks and up to one hundred and sixty paratroops (typically eighty).

Photo:Sergeant Dan Bardsley (Phot.) Crown Copyright

The Light Protected Truck family shall have a much lower volume and weight per passenger,crew per passenger and lifecycle cost per passenger than the American Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (the British Army's next attempt at procuring it's way to military failure),the critical importance of this is probably far beyond the comprehension of those who procure vehicles for the British Army.

Photo:Harland Quarrington Crown Copyright

For their benefit we shall explain.

Photo:Gray Robson-Parker,perhaps he should have read the sign.

A reinforced ready brigade of our proposed Light Infantry Division shall require four hundred and eight,ten seat,light protected trucks to transport it's four thousand and eighty men,the same brigade shall require one thousand and twenty,four seat,Joint Light Tactical Vehicles to transport the same number of men.

Photo:P.O.(Phot.) Sean Clee Crown Copyright

Eight hundred and sixteen men,twenty percent of the brigade,shall be required to command and drive four hundred and eight Light Protected Trucks,two thousand and forty men,fifty percent of the brigade,shall be required to command and drive one thousand and twenty Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.

Photo:Oshkosh Defense

A single Super Merlin or Ultra Merlin helicopter shall be able to move the same reinforced ready brigade (including thirty two artillery pieces) in four hundred and forty lifts if the brigade is equipped with the Light Protected Truck or one thousand and fifty two lifts if the brigade is equipped with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

Photo:Sgt. Steve Blake R.L.C. Crown Copyright

Thus,to move a brigade equipped with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle shall require a transport helicopter fleet one hundred and thirty nine percent larger than that required to move a brigade equipped with the Light Protected Truck over the same distance in the same time.

Photo:Sergeant Ross Tilly R.A.F./M.O.D

A single Centaurus aircraft shall be able to move a brigade equipped with Light Protected Trucks in fifty five lifts but shall require one hundred and thirty two lifts to move the same brigade if it is equipped with Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.

Photo:Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Allen

Thus,to move a brigade equipped with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle shall require a transport aircraft fleet one hundred and thirty nine percent larger than that required to move a brigade equipped with the Light Protected Truck over the same distance in the same time.

Our proposed frontline fleet of twenty one Centaurus aircraft shall be able to deploy a reinforced ready brigade with combat supplies by airdrop in three lifts if the brigade is equipped with Light Protected Trucks but shall take seven lifts if the brigade is equipped with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

Photo:P.O.(Phot.) Si Ethell/M.O.D.

A regiment of thirty two Super Merlin or Ultra Merlin helicopters shall be able to deploy a reinforced ready brigade to a radius of fifty miles in fourteen hour long lifts if the brigade is equipped with ten seat Light Protected Trucks but shall take thirty three lifts if the brigade is equipped with the four seat Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

Photo:Shane Wilkinson Crown Copyright

To move a brigade equipped with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle shall require transport ship capacity one hundred and thirty nine percent larger than that required to move a brigade equipped with the Light Protected Truck over the same distance in the same time.

Photo:Corporal Wes Calder R.L.C. Crown Copyright

To move a brigade equipped with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle shall require railway capacity one hundred and thirty nine percent larger than that required to move a brigade equipped with the Light Protected Truck over the same distance in the same time.

Photo:Andrzej Barabasz (Chepry)

The cost of providing that additional logistic capacity can only be found by cutting other parts of the British armed forces but without it a brigade equipped with Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (or worse,this) can not deploy as quickly as a brigade equipped with Light Protected Trucks.

Photo:Oshkosh Defence

A brigade which cannot avoid combat by rapidly deploying shall require the protection and fire power necessary to engage in combat,which the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle does not have.

Photo:Sgt. Rupert Frere R.L.C. Crown Copyright

The sort of people who are allowed to take important procurement decisions at the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence might conclude that because a Light Protected Truck costs more than a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle it represents poor value for money but,as we can see from the above,there is a lot more to the comparative costs of military vehicles than simply comparing the "sticker price".

Photo:Cpl. Mike O'Neill R.L.C. L.B.I.P.P. Crown Copyright

The Light Protected Truck shall cost more to procure a single vehicle but far fewer vehicles shall be required,far less shall be be spent on fuel and parts for those vehicles,fewer men shall be required to operate and maintain those vehicles and fewer transport aircraft,ships and helicopters shall be required to deploy those vehicles.

Photo:L.A.(Phot.) Gaz Faulkner Crown Copyright

The Light Protected Truck therefore offers a force with greater fighting capacity,strategic mobility and operational mobility at a far lower overall cost than the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.