DETERRENCE UPGRADE: A CATV travels cross-country at the Cold Region Test Center, Alaska. An armored version of the CATV would give Army Alaska units the ability to deter potential attacks.
The U.S. Army prepares to receive a new cold-weather all-terrain vehicle for Arctic operations—but is an armored version needed?
by Kelly Sowell
It’s 8 a.m. on a cold December morning in Fairbanks, Alaska. The outside temperature without windchill is well below minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit and together, with the windchill, can cut through protective wear numbing body parts in a matter of minutes. Frostbite on exposed skin can occur in five to 10 minutes. It’ll be another two hours until sunrise, and there will be a little over four hours of daylight for today. Soldiers under these conditions need to exercise extreme care to successfully reach the end of the day. It’s no different for equipment.
For all things automotive, it’s also a rough start to an incredibly short day. Temperatures overnight have dropped to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Metal, plastic, electrical wires, fuel and all other automotive component characteristics have changed. Metal and plastic are now brittle, wires no longer want to bend and fuel lines freeze. Vehicle systems, much like their human counterparts, react differently to these freezing temperatures. Getting vehicles to start under these extreme conditions is challenging enough, but then the vehicles themselves still have to support Soldiers and their missions wherever they may lead. The vehicle that can perform under these conditions also needs to be extreme. Enter the Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle (CATV), one of the U.S. Army’s newest additions to meet the Arctic challenge.
Alaska itself is a land of extremes. At a little over 570,000 square miles, Alaska is bigger than the next three states, Texas, California and Montana, combined. It’s a region of extreme temperatures with summers that can reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit and winters that can bottom out to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit or colder. Alaska is 1,824 miles from the North Pole, and as such, has extreme changes in daylight. In line with its size, Alaska has over 3 million lakes, its own mountain ranges and has the largest forest of any state. For the diverse terrain and challenging weather conditions during summer and winter, the CATV is suited for the extreme.
In August 2022, the Army announced a new vehicle for Arctic regions and started making preparations to take delivery of the CATV. The CATV will renew the Army’s capability to conduct operations in extreme cold weather on the frozen tundra of Alaska and other cold regions within the continental United States. The CATV will be unarmored and unarmed, having the primary mission of transporting people and material supporting missions across unforgiving terrain in temperatures down to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The CATV will replace the Small Unit Support Vehicle (SUSV), which was also unarmored and unarmed. With the Army’s interest in expanding capability and deterrence in the Arctic, the CATV is part of increasing the Army’s ability to operate in the Arctic.
The current CATV configuration can partner with allied nations in the Arctic but is limited to peacetime operations in an uncontested environment. But with its unarmored crew cab it may not be the right capability that enables Army Alaska units to employ a credible, capable force that can deter potential attacks. Its role as part of a capable force in the first line of defense is limited with its unarmored crew compartment. Armored capability and transitioning the CATV vehicle to a more capable weapons platform as part of a first line of defense formation comes with some potential tradeoffs.
As the CATV becomes heavier it’s plausible, with the increase in ground pressure exerted by the vehicle, that there will be limitations in mobility in the terrain types the CATV was developed to traverse such as a change in center of gravity, decreased range, decreased speed and reduced CH-47 sling load capability (for a decoupled vehicle only). In addition, with the heavier weight, there will be an increase in sustainment costs as driveline, suspension and frame components, if not replaced with a heavier duty part, will potentially wear out sooner. With increased wear and tear on vehicle components, it’s logical that units will have to keep a larger store of on-hand parts for replacement to maintain readiness.
TAKE IT TO THE EXTREME: A CATV is tested driving up a slope at the Cold Region Test Center, Alaska. The CATV is an all-terrain vehicle designed to work in extreme cold weather, traveling at speeds up to 40 mph and with a range of more than 620 miles. (Photos by Product Management Office Multi-Mission Protected Vehicle Systems)
WHY THE CATV?
The CATV is a modern replacement for the vintage 1980’s SUSV, which is experiencing sustainment issues and increasing parts obsolescence. The SUSV family of vehicles provided extreme cold weather capability operating throughout Alaska and other U.S. cold weather regions in all weather conditions in all types of terrain. Although SUSVs were fielded in the mid-1980s as modification table of organization and equipment (MTOE)-authorized vehicles within the then 6th Infantry Division (Light), meaning they could be deployable, the SUSV family of vehicles were transitioned to and maintained as table of distribution and allowances (TDA)-authorized vehicles, which are not deployable, with unit funding for sustainment support. The sustainment costs for refurbishing SUSVs increased beyond affordability limits between 2003 and 2019. The increase in price per vehicle was mostly because of the lack of parts necessary for the rebuild. Lack of parts drove more in-house, one-off fabrication and quickly escalated costs beyond supported funding. Army units resorted to using older SUSV parts to repair and replace parts on other SUSVs. This sustainment strategy could only support the SUSV until fiscal year 2022, after which it would become unsustainable regardless of supported costs.
The Army Requirements Oversight Council approved the CATV requirement as a replacement for the SUSV on April 15, 2019. Stephen Miller, a former U.S. Marine Corps ground combat and aviation officer, wrote about the Army Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle BvS10 BEOWOLF in Armada International following its Association of the United States Army conference presentation in October 2022. According to Miller, with the new CATV, the Army will have a vehicle with an updated powerplant boasting 285 horsepower and improved speed up to 40 mph and more than a 620-mile range.
CATV’s performance capabilities include an all-terrain vehicle with a 4 km per hour amphibious swim. It is helicopter (CH-47 Chinook) sling load capable, and similar to the SUSV, the new CATV vehicle halves can be decoupled and recoupled. The new CATV light body crew cab has increased crew and cargo capacity over the SUSV, and replacement parts are more readily available.
In its updated requirements the Army required a vehicle that would be globally responsive providing transportation for up to a nine-person element, emergency medical evacuation, command and control capability, and general cargo transportation in on- and off-road environments under a wide range of otherwise impassable terrain, to include frozen ice, snow, and muskeg conditions to support year-round training, as well as conducting Homeland Defense, Defense Support of Civil Authorities and search and rescue mission sets. The new CATV is extreme cold weather capable and has a 10,000-pound payload and a reconfigurable interior modular design supporting transportation up to a nine-person element, emergency medical evacuation, command and control capability, and general cargo transportation.
LIMITED MISSION: A CATV traverses a steep grade obstacle at the Cold Region Test Center, Alaska. The CATV can partner with allied nations in the Arctic but is limited to peacetime operations in an uncontested environment.
TESTING ON THE WAY TO PRODUCTION
Market research indicated up to eight vendors that had commercially available systems. Two vendors, BAE Systems and an Oshkosh-Singapore Technologies (OSH-ST) partnership from that group had systems that met most of the requirements. The identified systems improved on the existing SUSV by having a modern and sustainable design, improved powertrain performance and increased electrical network capability.
Procured through a shared cost other transactional agreement, BAE and OSH-ST delivered two vehicles each, one general purpose variant and one cargo variant, to the U.S. Army Cold Region Test Center at Fort Greely, Alaska, for prototype testing in June 2021. Testing was broken down into two phases. Phase I, from June to October 2021, included mobility, payload and robotic swim testing. Completing Phase I testing allowed each vendor to submit production proposals. Phase II, from November 2021 to January 2022, was extreme cold weather testing with scheduled Soldier touch points including operational vignettes and specific tasks such as towing, sling load preparation and extreme cold weather recovery. Both testing phases were used to assess the vendors vehicles. In August 2022, the U.S. Army announced BAE as the selected vendor to produce up to 163 CATVs. BAE will start deliveries in 2023 supporting a first unit equipped date in late fiscal year 2023.
As the Army prepares to take delivery of the new CATV renewing its capability to conduct operations in extreme cold weather on the frozen tundra of Alaska and other cold regions within the continental United States, should there be a planned armored version CATV in the future extending additional crew protection and vehicle survivability beyond the CATV’s current capability?
FUTURE REQUIREMENTS
From the U.S. Army Regaining Arctic Dominance, part of the Army’s Arctic Strategy released in January 2021, “the Army will field a Multi-Domain Task Force-enabled division and adjust our Alaskan-based brigade combat teams to regain the U.S. Army’s Arctic dominance.” The strategy also stated that multidomain formations must be able to converge their effects with the rest of the joint force as well as allies and partners.
The Army must enable Army Alaska units to employ a capable force posture that is credible to deter potential attacks and be that first line of defense. In addition, Army Alaska units must be capable to partner with allied nations that share the Arctic region. Army Alaska units must be able to use effective and suitable equipment to conduct operations in the Arctic beyond a set of specialized equipment sets. U.S. Army Alaska units must have equipment that can partner with other capabilities in formations that can perform their missions and withstand the extreme cold weather environment. This capability must increase the Army’s ability to operate in extreme cold weather and be adaptable to how the Army plans to generate, posture, train and equip Army Alaska units in a multidomain task force.
To take full advantage of Alaska-based world-class training facilities, U.S. Army units must have capable program of record equipment sets as part of their organic structure coupled with adequate sustainment funding. Because multidomain task forces are forward-stationed, unit formations must be capable to perform their missions at the onset of need regardless of weather conditions. As Alaska has the least number of roads per square mile than any other state, the Army must also strike a balance due to mobility concerns as conditions in summer months pose challenges to wheeled vehicles because of thawing conditions on the tundra. Part of addressing this balance point supports removing some Army units’ Stryker platforms. CATV procurement in its current configuration supports ensuring continued air mobility to the extent possible which is critical to its listed operations and mission sets.
ENABLING CATV TO DO MORE
With the added armor, CATV can still support year-round training, as well as conduct the previously mentioned mission sets, provided it has a road network or maintains some level of sling load capability. In addition, it becomes an armored personal carrier, protecting against any small arms and artillery fire. From BAE, the armored CATV is capable of supporting anti-armor and air defense missile systems, mortar systems and remote weapon stations that can be integrated with weapons up to M2 .50-caliber. Also, with added armor, CATV becomes a much more capable vehicle in the first line of defense and in combat unit formations.
To decrease peacetime sustainment costs, it may be more prudent to procure a limited number of armored cabs and store them at points of need keeping the lighter body on a portion of the current CATVs for the bulk of its mission sets. Alaska Army units will need a number of armored CATVs to conduct unit training relative to their first line of defense mission as well as conducting and sustaining driver’s training in order to maintain crew proficiency and situational awareness on the differences between the unarmored and armored vehicle types. More important to the overall CATV capability is transitioning the CATV to a program of record with a full materiel release. With that transition will be the identified sustainment costs that will be critical to support the CATV fleet for its service life.
CONCLUSION
Delivery of the CATV in fiscal year 2023 is necessary to replace the aging SUSV fleet in its current role and use in U.S. Army Alaska units and other cold region locations. The program office will procure CATV quantities up to the Army Requirements Oversight Council requirements and support the CATV through a contracted logistic support arrangement that is program office funded at first and will eventually transition to unit funding.
However, looking deeper into the U.S. Army Arctic Strategy and the current CATV limitations, it may be necessary to go a step further and start the procurement action for an armored CATV or similar system. Buying a completely new system doesn’t fully leverage the current CATV procurement, but it is an option albeit a more expensive one for which the Army may not have the facilities and other infrastructure to support once it takes delivery of the entire fleet of CATVs. The retrofitted armor cab option on the current CATV would take full advantage of the current CATV procurement action while keeping costs lower than procuring a new CATV like armored solution. The armored CATV option would extend additional crew protection and vehicle survivability beyond the CATV’s current capability and further enable U.S. Army Alaska units to employ a capable force posture that is a more capable first line of defense and a more credible deterrent for potential attacks. In addition, Army Alaska units would be a more capable partner with allied nations that share the Arctic region. A balanced armored and unarmored CATV approach will make the overarching Arctic strategy a more capable platform.
For more information, contact Rae Higgins at rae.a.higgins.civ@army.mil or 586-282-5175 at the Public Affairs Office, PEO Combat Support and Combat Service Support, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan.
KELLY SOWELL serves as a program officer (acquisition) for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle, under Project Manager Maneuver Combat Systems to the Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems at Detroit Arsenal, Michigan. He is a member of Year Group 2021 Army Leadership Excellence Acquisition Development Group. His previous assignments include Department of the Army systems coordinator for ammunition; program officer (acquisition) for Robotic Combat Vehicle (Light); and acquisition program manager (APM) on various vehicle platforms. Prior to civilian service, Mr. Sowell served as an active-duty Army commissioned officer in the continental United States, Hawaii and Turkey. He holds an M.S. in program management from the Naval Postgraduate School and a B.S. in economics from the United States Military Academy.
