ADI's HMEV fights for US Army order

ADI's High-Mobility Engineering Vehicle (HMEV - formerly the high-speed engineering vehicle) is slugging it out with a German rival to win a forthcoming US Army contract worth over $20 million for combat engineering vehicles.

Under the Foreign Comparative Test (FCT) program the US Army has begun trials of two battlefield engineer vehicles which are candidates to equip high-readiness units in a lighter, more mobile Army. ADI has teamed with US truck giant Oshkosh Truck Corporation to bid for the contract. Depending on the outcome of the current trial program the initial order for 56 vehicles could be placed by the end of this year, an ADI spokesman told ADM.

The HMEV is competing against a variant of the DaimlerChrysler Unimog to meet the Army's requirement. Unlike the Unimog, which is primarily a truck, the HMEV is a purpose-designed engineer vehicle which can be used as an earth-mover, forklift, compactor and rock-breaker, but is also designed to self-deploy as part of fast, mobile Army units and can cruise at up 100km/hr on the open road, an ADI source said.

The HMEV is in production for the Australian Army, which has ordered 27 vehicles, and is also being evaluated by the armies of the United Arab Emirates and Canada, both of whom have ordered one HMEV for field trials. The Canadian variant has been specially modified to operate at temperatures of below 40 degrees centigrade.

"The US Army has seen the vehicle demonstrate its capabilities in Australia and Canada and then perform very successfully when deployed to East Timor with Canada's peace-keeping force," Jean-Georges Malcor, managing director of ADI said in a statement. "In addition, the HMEV's speed, mobility, and capability to be transported on a C-130 aircraft meet the US Army's transformation initiatives to become a lighter, rapidly-deployable force. We expect a decision from the US Army by the end of this year with an initial order of 56 vehicles being indicated."

A senior ADI source declined to speculate on the eventual scale of the US Army's requirements for such a vehicle, but acknowledged it would like be "substantially greater" than the initial order.

The Canadian Army is scheduled to decide later this year whether or not to acquire the HMEV, the source said, but Canada's final choice of battlefield engineer vehicle could be influenced by the outcome of the US evaluation process.

By Gregor Ferguson, Adelaide