A TEAM EFFORT


Arconic Inc.), Constellium N.V. and BAE Systems Inc., respectively. Te forged- hull effort was the first innovation and is the focus of this article.


Stakeholders from the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM), the Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems (PEO GCS) and the MCOE determined the desired results for the APOT project. PEO GCS experts sought affordable hull designs with integrable manufacturing techniques, while the MCOE needed hard data to inform underbody blast


requirements being drafted for a number of programs.


While experts agreed that manufacturing a lower hull and live-fire testing with an explosive charge similar to an IED would be useful, that would not answer the essential question: “What does it mean for force protection for the Soldier?” Experts concluded that to answer this question would mean taking the lower hull and fabricating an entire BH&T, installing energy-absorbing seats and floors along with crash dummies, conducting live-fire testing and then assessing injuries. To accomplish all this, the team looked for partners.


Fortunately, at the time, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency


SINGLE HULL FORGED


This single-piece hull of 7020 aluminum alloy was successfully forged by Alcoa (now Arconic) in July 2014, one year after the APOT program’s kickoff. It’s the world’s largest aluminum forging. (Photo by Arconic Inc.)


(DARPA) Soldier Protection Systems (SPS) program was also “developing and demonstrating


lightweight


modeling and simulation. Te hull design, along with the material


requirements, armor


material systems to defeat current and potential ballistic and blast threats with performance substantially better than today’s protective armor systems.” As part of that effort, it awarded BAE Systems a project to develop an aluminum com- bat vehicle hull capable of withstanding very large underbody IED blasts. Col- laboration among APOT, SPS and BAE Systems project managers


led them to


agree that the APOT underbodies would form the basis for the SPS designs. Select designs would be fabricated into BH&Ts to demonstrate the first element of force protection.


A HULL NEW DEFENSE Te forged hull effort kicked off in sum- mer 2013; APOT forming and welding efforts started a year later. Acquisition stakeholders required material used for the hull to be weldable using conven- tional Army practices, and TRADOC requested data in one year. Te APOT effort was scheduled to produce a hull in 18 months; however, Alcoa made it possi- ble to accelerate the program by funding the massive 180-ton steel die set required for forging.


During fall 2013, the forged hull geom- etry was developed and refined through


drove the team to select a European alu- minum armor alloy, 7020, which had never been produced commercially nor forged in the United States. Fortunately, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) studied aluminum alloy 7020 in a 2011-13 foreign technology assess- ment program and developed a good understanding of its weldability and bal- listic response. However, as 7020 had never been manufactured in the United States, the Army needed to develop the alloy


chemistries and process param-


eters for large-scale domestic industrial production.


In fall 2013, the U.S. Army and the


Israeli Ministry of Defense were clos- ing out capability assessment activities as part of the Ground Combat Vehicle analysis of alternatives. Te Israelis learned of the forged hull effort and expressed interest in collaborating. Since high-performing, energy-absorbing tech- nologies were required for the BH&T, a U.S.-Israel project agreement on armored vehicle underbody blast testing allowed energy-absorbing technologies developed by Israel to be adapted and installed into the forged BH&T.


During this time, RDECOM’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and


210


Army AL&T Magazine


January-March 2018


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