ARMY Engineering Units
Current problem: Army Engineering units are needed to construct facilities to support all military groups. Such facilities may include buildings, roads, and support systems. Often such work is done in very remote areas where the placement of construction machinery is difficult, for such machinery is very heavy and thus requires large vehicles to transport the equipment. Often such distances are measured in hundreds of miles. Given this long distance, Transportation Groups are exposed to primary and secondary threats, plus the added cost of the transporting machinery and maintenance, plus the high costs and logistics to return the equipment.
Current Solution: Improving a commercial off the Shelf (COTS) construction backhoe/loader that can be towed without a trailer immediately minimizes the need for several transportation vehicles. In addition, such construction vehicles can perform a wide range of tasks, from digging to 10' deep for pipelines, to lifting capacity of 2500 lbs to support construction functions.
Benefit: Such commercial vehicles are readily available and have a high level of performance, durability, and simple to use. In addition, with the weight at 4500 lbs, such vehicles can be transported by helicopter. Another feature, given the low cost, such vehicles can be left behind as a gift to the local population, and doing so eliminates the high return transportation costs.
