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Diesel-Electric Hybrid Army Truck Available

15 February 1999

Diesel-Electric Hybrid Army Truck Available Being Demonstrated at AUSA Symposium

    ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 15 -- Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Army
National Automotive Center will display a 5-ton tactical truck powered by a
new hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system at the Association of the U.S.
Army's Symposium and Exhibition this week.  Symposium attendees, including
members of the media, are being invited to take demonstration rides in the
truck, which offers significant improvements in fuel economy and performance
and sharply reduced emissions.
    The truck, part of the Army's Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, employs
the HybriDrive(TM) propulsion system developed by Lockheed Martin Control
Systems of Johnson City, N.Y.  Instead of a transmission, the vehicle employs
electric drive motors, a diesel-powered generator, batteries, and an
electronic control system.
    Batteries continually recharged by the on-board generator power the
vehicle's drive motors.  The diesel engine turning the generator runs at
nearly constant speed for optimum performance, so the hybrid truck consumes
25% to 50% less fuel compared to a standard diesel configuration.  The
HybriDrive(TM) system also provides more torque for sudden acceleration and
hill-climbing and produces about half the noxious exhaust emissions.

    Additional benefits:
    -- The generator can generate 100kW or more of auxiliary electric power
       for use in the field.
    -- The vehicle can be driven for brief periods in all-electric stealth
       mode.
    -- During braking, the truck's drive motors act as generators to slow the
       vehicle and recharge the batteries, reducing brake wear.
    -- Because it operates at uniform speed rather than continuously cycling
       up and down, the engine incurs less wear and requires less maintenance.

    The truck on display at the AUSA meeting completed a tour of three of Army
bases last week, providing demonstration rides at Aberdeen Proving
Grounds, Md., Fort Eustis, Va., and Fort Lee, Va.
    The HybriDrive(TM) propulsion system was developed by Lockheed Martin for
commercial vehicles, including a demonstration fleet of transit buses
currently in service in New York. The technology has been adapted for military
vehicles by a team from Lockheed Martin, Stewart & Stevenson Tactical Vehicle
Systems of Sealy, Texas, and the U.S. Army National Automotive Center in
Warren, Mich.  The NAC spearheads technology developments that have both
military and commercial applications.
    Lockheed Martin Control Systems, part of the corporation's Electronics
Sector, is a world leader in electronics systems for global defense, civil and
commercial markets.  Control Systems designs and manufactures flight, mission
and engine controls for the world aircraft and space market.  The company also
produces electronic controls for the locomotive industry and the emerging
electric vehicle market.