Smart Design of an Air-Deployable Amphibious Vehicle - Report Example

Name : xxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxx Title : ADAV Institution : xxxxxxx @2016 Abstract This report entails a proposed smart design of an Air-Deployable Amphibious Vehicle (ADAV) for use in the Australian Defense Forces. It details the new capabilities that utilizes high end technologies that makes them better than the old designs currently in use. The report also gives an overview of adoption and implementation of the system into use and how to phase out the old system. Training personal as well as user instructions on repair and maintenance is also detailed here in. Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Procurement and Maintenance 5 Operation concept 5 Design concept 6 Night Vision target locking 7 Satellite based GPS Navigation 8 Direct communication link with command post 8 Threat detection and nose diving capabilities 8 Personnel 9 Organization 9 Training 10 Support 11 Conclusion 11 References 11 Introduction An Air-Deployable Amphibious Vehicle is a special type of a vehicle with great flexibility for mobility in both air and land. It is used as a means of transport to military personnel is especially in operations in remote places like the seas, rivers, estuaries or littoral environment. Military personnel have been using the Air-deployable amphibious vehicles for years to navigate through remote place undetected. Such vehicles have been undergoing great revolution in its capabilities and technological advancements (Hall & Wylie 2010). Most governments` defenses are giving more priorities in shifting their defense strategies from the bi-polar strategy to a globl perspective strategy in order to effectively deal with the diverse and advanced warfare. In the current century, warfare has drastically shifted its focus from the convenient easy to reach terrains to areas considered to as Special Operations for Low Intensity Conflicts (SOLIC), special warfare as well as mine war fare among others. Thus to ensure effective mobility of military personnel in such warfare grounds, there is need to improve the existing transport vehicles in order to locomote in such terrains effectively. One such technology to ensure that this objective is met is the invention and development of the ADAV. ADAV derived its name from its mode of deployment. Conventionally, the vehicle is deployed by an aircraft or a sea vessel at a desired location thus the name Air-Deployable Amphibious Vehicle. ADAV are based on two technologies, the air-cushion technology commonly referred to as hovercrafts and the wheeled technologies. However, the hover craft technology is the most preferred due to its flexibility and ability to t in any ravel in terrain both in land and water (Menciassi & Laschi 2014). The vehicles apart from land and water locomotory capabilities also can travel in other terrains such as ice, mud, marsh, and swamp among others. Recently, the Australian Defense raised concerns on the large gap in the technology of their existing air-deployable amphibious vehicles as compared to their demands in order to dispense their duties efficiently. The Australian Army expressed their need for a vehicle that can deploy small groups of their military personnel around remote and hard to access locations such as rivers, estuaries or littoral environments. The concerned also had issues concerning the compatibility of the vehicle of their wish to have an advanced ability to integrate into their already advanced communication networks. Procurement and Maintenance The air deployable amphibious vehicle under consideration will be managed and maintained in the existing protocols of the Australian defense. Therefore, the procurement and maintenance will be within the jurisdiction of the Defence Material Organization (DMO). This organization will be charged with the sole duties of acquisition and implementation of the ADAV in a sustainable manner as well as ensuring administering effective maintenance through the vehicles life cycle. Any engineering assistance can be accorded to the DMO from the able Land Engineering Agency and such service could include fine tuning or modification of the vehicles design if necessary to meet new terrain requirements. Operation concept The Air deployable amphibious vehicle under consideration will be designed to meet the special demands from the Australian army for use in the stated terrains. The vehicle will be deployable by any of the service air craft that is used by the Australian Army. In this case, the ADAV can be deployed by and not limited to Royal Australian navy air craft, army air crafts or Royal Australian Air Force aircrafts. These air crafts are all operated and managed by the Australian army (Menciassi & Laschi 2014). During the process of deployment of the vessel, the aircraft would be required to place or lower the ADAV in a forward position to the water surface. Depending on the terrain, the ADAV may be pushed forward into the water by people, vessel or string attached to the aircraft deploying. Design concept The capabilities for the proposed ADAV comprises of complex systems that requires integration into the current existing infrastructure within the defense organization (Menciassi & Laschi 2014). The three main addition capabilities that the proposed design seeks to address include; Nigh vision target locking capabilities. Satellite based GPS navigation system. Direct communication capabilities with the command post. Threat detection and Nose diving capabilities while on target. The above features are additional features on the already existing technologies of the ADAV that are currently in use. The design of the proposed additional systems are meant to revolutionize the ADAV and give it more superiority in the modern warfare. The following diagram summarizes the overall functionality of the ADAV system under consideration. Figure 1: The Overall ADAV System functionality diagram Night Vision target locking This capability would enable the vehicle to be able to detect enemies in darkness and lock on them accurately without their knowledge. This would give the vehicle an upper hand in enemy combat as well as elimination if necessary (Hall & Wylie 2010). The capability would incorporate the use of high resolution Infrared cameras, GPS devices as well as high power armor rifles that are mounted onto the vehicle. The high resolution infrared camera – This would facilitate target detection within the field of view of the camera by making an image based on thermal analysis of the camera`s field of view. GPS – The purpose of the GPS is to calculate and determine the exact location of the enemy as detected by the infrared camera. Once the exact location of the target has been obtained, the co-ordinates of the target would be sent to the armor in order to lock on the target ready from combat or elimination. Armor – These should include the high grade riffles such as the M6 snipers as well as machine guns that are mounted on the vehicle. Satellite based GPS Navigation This capabilities enables the vehicle to effectively and accurately navigate through a terrain in a precise manner. The satellite based navigation technology would include the abilities of the vehicle to detect availability of threat beforehand thus giving the vehicle the ability to evade anticipated threat before happening (Hall & Wylie 2010). Direct communication link with command post The ADAV proposed has a dedicated channel for direct communication with the command post or the Army base communication tower. This consists of a secure radio wave line shielded by the latest technologies from tapping by enemies. The ADAV therefore should have a dongle antennae fitted to its surface to enable it to transmit its signals to the satellite at any point in any terrain. Threat detection and nose diving capabilities In cases when the ADAV vehicles is detected by the enemy, the vehicle have the capability to dive for a limited period of time in order to protect its self from direct combat from the enemies. As such, the design of the vehicle should have the capabilities of being waterproof as well as having supplemented air supply during the diving. All the openings in the vehicle like the doors, windows, exhausts among others should fitted with waterproofing lining for use in in-water conditions. Personnel The design of the proposed ADAV is such that it is compatible with the existing fixed wing as well as rotary wing transporter aircraft used by the army. Therefore, there are no additional personnel requirements in the deployment of the ADAV. The communication systems for the vehicle will be integrated into the existing communication systems. Therefore, the introduction of the new ADAV designed would not result in need to implement addition communication systems. There is consequently no need to deploy any additional personnel to service, operate or maintain the communication systems proposed. The fixed weapons will use the existing caliber of ammunitions within the protocols of the army. The new vehicles` technology maintenance and upgrades will be under the management of DMO in conjunction with the logistics department. Additional personnel may be required to supplement the DMO technicians and this would be majorly important during acquisition phase (Australia 1996). The weapons required for use in the ADAV for combat would include the normal fixed as well as the small arms that are commonly in use and acceptable within the protocols of the army. The contractor is expected to avail personnel to assist in commissioning and installation of the system into the ADAV. However, under conditions where the protocol does not allow this, the contractor would utilize the existing workforce within the army. Organization The new ADAV would be used by the 2nd Battalion and its deployment would include use of the existing Army resources such as rotary wing aircraft. Communications will be integrated with existing communication infrastructure and the weapons will be in consistency with the existing ammunitions. The implementation of the ADAV into the existing technology would include contracting, delivery, introduction to service and support throughout its life cycle (Australia 1996). Training The DMO and ADF groups should undergo training on some of the new capabilities of the ADAV as well as their mode of application. Such training would span through the deployment, as well as how to use and maintain ace and servicing of the ADAV. DMO personnel as well as the engineer in the profession would enlightened on the new technology beforehand. The army, RAN as well as RAAF would be trained on how to deploy, operated and services the vehicles. The training would be carried out in form of familiarization since the technology is already in use. Thus the training will be on a short duration of a period not more than a week. A complete and comprehensive user manual would also be available at any time within the vehicle and in the maintain ace department for the vehicle. Weapons training would include training personnel on target acquisition, locking and elimination using the new technologies as well as how to achieve optimum accuracy while using the weapons. There would be no much training on the use of communication system and thus this would only be a familiarization session that can be accomplished in minutes. The training packages both demonstrational, compact disks as well as hard copy user manual will be provided by the manufacturer for review, authorization and authorization for use by the army. The manufacture should also carry out analysis on the performance of the equipment’s as well as providing regular upgrades that would help optimize the performance of the ADAV. Support The support service both for maintenance and upgrades will be provided by the support infrastructure within the army. However, the contractor should give the ultimate support especially on the grounds of upgrades to the ADAV. All the other systems like communications, deployments as well weaponry would be provided by the existing maintenance support within the army`s infrastructure. This is due to the minimal deviation of such services between the current ADAV and the old model of the vehicle. Conclusion The new ADAV will give its users an advanced navigation, threat detection as well as enemy elimination. It seeks to address the main concerns raised by the Australian army and should be adopted. Its design do not necessitate major changes in the army infrastructure and can be implemented without the need of running a pilot program. Thus, it would be a cheap solutions to the concerns raised by the military. References GERHART, G. R., GAGE, D. W., & SHOEMAKER, C. M. (2007). Unmanned systems technology IX 9-12 April, 2007, Orlando, Florida, USA. Bellingham, Wash, SPIE. http://link.spie.org/PSISDG/6561/1. MENCIASSI, A., & LASCHI, C. (2014). Biorobotics. BOSWORTH, M. L., KLEIMAN, A. G., & MATZ, S. C. (1991). Multimission Ship Design for an Alternative Fleet Concept. Naval Engineers Journal. 103, 91-106. MARKOWSKI, S., HALL, P., & WYLIE, R. (2010). Defence procurement and industry policy: a small country perspective. London, Routledge. COASTGIS 2005 SYMPOSIUM, & GREEN, D. R. (2010). Coastal and marine geospatial technologies. Dordrecht, Springer. AUSTRALIA. (1996). The Australian Army in profile. Canberra, ACT, Directorate of Public Information - Army, Dept. of Defence. Abbreviations Abbreviation Term ADAV Air-deployable amphibious vehicle DMO Defence materiel Organization RAAF Royal Australian Air Force RAN Royal Australian Navy Read More

The Australian Army expressed their need for a vehicle that can deploy small groups of their military personnel around remote and hard to access locations such as rivers, estuaries or littoral environments. The concerned also had issues concerning the compatibility of the vehicle of their wish to have an advanced ability to integrate into their already advanced communication networks. Procurement and Maintenance The air deployable amphibious vehicle under consideration will be managed and maintained in the existing protocols of the Australian defense.

Therefore, the procurement and maintenance will be within the jurisdiction of the Defence Material Organization (DMO). This organization will be charged with the sole duties of acquisition and implementation of the ADAV in a sustainable manner as well as ensuring administering effective maintenance through the vehicles life cycle. Any engineering assistance can be accorded to the DMO from the able Land Engineering Agency and such service could include fine tuning or modification of the vehicles design if necessary to meet new terrain requirements.

Operation concept The Air deployable amphibious vehicle under consideration will be designed to meet the special demands from the Australian army for use in the stated terrains. The vehicle will be deployable by any of the service air craft that is used by the Australian Army. In this case, the ADAV can be deployed by and not limited to Royal Australian navy air craft, army air crafts or Royal Australian Air Force aircrafts. These air crafts are all operated and managed by the Australian army (Menciassi & Laschi 2014).

During the process of deployment of the vessel, the aircraft would be required to place or lower the ADAV in a forward position to the water surface. Depending on the terrain, the ADAV may be pushed forward into the water by people, vessel or string attached to the aircraft deploying. Design concept The capabilities for the proposed ADAV comprises of complex systems that requires integration into the current existing infrastructure within the defense organization (Menciassi & Laschi 2014).

The three main addition capabilities that the proposed design seeks to address include; Nigh vision target locking capabilities. Satellite based GPS navigation system. Direct communication capabilities with the command post. Threat detection and Nose diving capabilities while on target. The above features are additional features on the already existing technologies of the ADAV that are currently in use. The design of the proposed additional systems are meant to revolutionize the ADAV and give it more superiority in the modern warfare.

The following diagram summarizes the overall functionality of the ADAV system under consideration. Figure 1: The Overall ADAV System functionality diagram Night Vision target locking This capability would enable the vehicle to be able to detect enemies in darkness and lock on them accurately without their knowledge. This would give the vehicle an upper hand in enemy combat as well as elimination if necessary (Hall & Wylie 2010). The capability would incorporate the use of high resolution Infrared cameras, GPS devices as well as high power armor rifles that are mounted onto the vehicle.

The high resolution infrared camera – This would facilitate target detection within the field of view of the camera by making an image based on thermal analysis of the camera`s field of view. GPS – The purpose of the GPS is to calculate and determine the exact location of the enemy as detected by the infrared camera. Once the exact location of the target has been obtained, the co-ordinates of the target would be sent to the armor in order to lock on the target ready from combat or elimination.

Armor – These should include the high grade riffles such as the M6 snipers as well as machine guns that are mounted on the vehicle. Satellite based GPS Navigation This capabilities enables the vehicle to effectively and accurately navigate through a terrain in a precise manner.

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