The ULTRA AP (Ford pickup turned into an armored combat vehicle)

Posted 5/4/2006

Billions of dollars are being thrown at the IED (roadside bomb) problem in Iraq.
This means that a lot of ideas that would, in normal times, never get money, now
do. Some are strange, and useless, and diligent muckrakers will eventually get
to them. But some are pretty interesting, and potentially useful. One of them is
the ULTRA AP, a heavily modified Ford F-350 pickup. The 350 (and its cousin, the
250) are favorites with police and armed forces in many nations. The Afghan army
recently bought 5,000 modified (for harsh cross country terrain) F-350s for
their army. The ULTRA AP (for Armored Patrol) was designed to reflect some of
the ideas coming out of Iraq, on how to design a more effective “armored truck”
for combat patrols in an area where you are likely to encounter mines, roadside
bombs and ambushes. The F-350 was selected because it is a mature, proven design
that provides a good starting point. The Office of Naval Research (which does
stuff for the marines), turned the Georgia Tech Research Institute (which does a
lot of defense work, and is considered the “MIT of the South”) loose on the
project.

The first mod was the use the light-weight armor that was being
used by military trucks in Iraq. This included bullet and blast proof glass. The
next mod was more interesting, and based on suggestions from the troops. The
seating was changed from four people sitting two by two, to a diamond, one by
two by one, arrangement. This meant replacing the current body of the 350 with a
new one that made the ULTRA AP look more like an armored car. But this did two
important things. It got the passengers farther away from the wheels, which are
the things that go over mines and take much of the blast. Second, it put the
four passengers in positions troops consider more useful. The driver is in
front, taking care of driving. The two passengers behind the driver face the
left and right. The fourth passenger faces the rear. This way, the passengers
are always giving the vehicle a view of potential threats coming from any
direction. The passenger compartment is actually a “blast bucket,” with armor
beneath the passengers that deflects much of the blast away. The designers also
took advantage of the computer networks that are now standard in motor vehicles,
and provided the driver with more control over maneuvering the vehicle on roads,
and cross country.

The Office of Naval Research will test the ULTRA AP to
see if the design concepts are worth incorporating into future military
vehicles. Some more may be built so that they can be tested with mines and
roadside bombs as well.
Billions of dollars are being thrown at the IED
(roadside bomb) problem in Iraq. This means that a lot of ideas that would, in
normal times, never get money, now do. Some are strange, and useless, and
diligent muckrakers will eventually get to them. But some are pretty
interesting, and potentially useful. One of them is the ULTRA AP, a heavily
modified Ford F-350 pickup. The 350 (and its cousin, the 250) are favorites with
police and armed forces in many nations. The Afghan army recently bought 5,000
modified (for harsh cross country terrain) F-350s for their army. The ULTRA AP
(for Armored Patrol) was designed to reflect some of the ideas coming out of
Iraq, on how to design a more effective “armored truck” for combat patrols in an
area where you are likely to encounter mines, roadside bombs and ambushes. The
F-350 was selected because it is a mature, proven design that provides a good
starting point. The Office of Naval Research (which does stuff for the marines),
turned the Georgia Tech Research Institute (which does a lot of defense work,
and is considered the “MIT of the South”) loose on the project.

The first
mod was the use the light-weight armor that was being used by military trucks in
Iraq. This included bullet and blast proof glass. The next mod was more
interesting, and based on suggestions from the troops. The seating was changed
from four people sitting two by two, to a diamond, one by two by one,
arrangement. This meant replacing the current body of the 350 with a new one
that made the ULTRA AP look more like an armored car. But this did two important
things. It got the passengers farther away from the wheels, which are the things
that go over mines and take much of the blast. Second, it put the four
passengers in positions troops consider more useful. The driver is in front,
taking care of driving. The two passengers behind the driver face the left and
right. The fourth passenger faces the rear. This way, the passengers are always
giving the vehicle a view of potential threats coming from any direction. The
passenger compartment is actually a “blast bucket,” with armor beneath the
passengers that deflects much of the blast away. The designers also took
advantage of the computer networks that are now standard in motor vehicles, and
provided the driver with more control over maneuvering the vehicle on roads, and
cross country.

The Office of Naval Research will test the ULTRA AP to see
if the design concepts are worth incorporating into future military vehicles.
Some more may be built so that they can be tested with mines and roadside bombs
as well.