Iveco Lince VTLM: what has not been said

(To Gianluca Celentano)
26/02/19

An avant-garde engineering project militarily appreciated by 12 countries around the world, the Iveco LINCE VTLM - Lightweight Multirole Tactical Vehicle - is fully qualified as the largest wheeled armored vehicles, such as the Freccia VBM 8X8. However, it will be interesting to know some unpublished background on the history of Italian Light Multirole Vehicle, an ideal vehicle for the defense market, even if initially talked about, able, thanks to its structure, to gravitate around this special machine three essential elements for a light and armored multirole: safety, speed and extreme versatility.

We discover the cards: the idea of ​​security comes from Israel

In '99 our Army was the third NATO force, together with the United States and the United Kingdom, to be used in conflicts in the Middle East where the outdated characteristics of the VM90P Multitasking - poorly protected in the underbody, sheet thicknesses and crystals - no longer guaranteed due safety in this dramatic operational scenario. The order of the VTLM Lince arrived at Iveco in '99 in the face of operational needs already promptly claimed by the FFAA two years earlier.

A new operational framework was quickly emerging, perhaps a real unknown for the Italian military organization, which had to understand, even in the face of subsequent economic choices, to what extent to be involved in the scenarios called peace missions. It is assumed that the military motorization, almost unchanged since 45, had some legitimate doubts about the numbers and specialized conformations necessary for the new vehicles; in short, an unclear international socio-political scenario that has overridden indigenous skills and is not helpful.

Many soldiers would have liked to have their say on the Lynx, but observing the rigorous motto of the Arma “Obbedir tacendo” they limited themselves to some anonymous outburst in the news pages. In this regard it is good to highlight the importance of the subsequent and necessary ones makeover occurred after the 2003.

Iveco, according to rumors, was initially embarrassed by the tight deadlines that the General Staff of Defense imposed on the production of a new vehicle that is hardly amenable to structures already used in the civil production of the company (!); but there is more, in fact, the poor operation of the VBL Puma (photo) - whose production and spending were not stopped - certainly did not represent a guarantee for the military.

It would seem that there were other countries ready to produce a LMV, including Israel, but it was decided that it was Italy that would make it happen. It is probable that a trip to the Iveco staff of Bolzano took place in Israel, after all it was the Israeli military who highlighted the importance of the concept of security cell, a fundamental detail for an ambitious light multirole armored car of the new century that responded to the MRAP platform Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected; a reality already known and tested by the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), users among other things of different units of the American Hummer H1 from which the Lince takes some obvious ideas.

At the base of the project there was a need of the SME (1997!) Which specified precise parameters by requiring the manufacturer to insert a safety cell capable of reducing the number of "g" absorbed by the military under attack.

Shock waves, ge forces F1, its secrets

Associating a vehicle with the appearance of an SUV with the qualities of marked mobility, robustness, speed and safety, carrying out the design mission "of a vehicle built around the mine", as stated by the engineer Gianfranco Mazzer of IDV, father of the project Lynx, it was not as simple as you will have understood, especially if we consider the forces that are generated and transferred during the explosions with velocities higher than that of the sound. The answer seems to have come by observing the tests of the composite cages used in Formula one to protect the pilot.

Meanwhile, while waiting for the Lynx, the Army gradually withdrew from the operating area the VM90P (photo, Iraq) while, on the Afghan camp, the guerrillas began to use innumerable and powerful IEDs, in addition to posting snipers.

The Defense Staff, to ensure the safety of its military, increased the use of the CENTAURO 8X8 also for downgraded and reconnaissance tasks. Some patrols took place with MRAP vehicles of the NATO coalition.

The housing module of the VTLM, in addition to the armor, is isolated and impenetrable from other potentially dangerous elements during explosions or accidents, such as engine, batteries, gearbox, reducer / distributor and differential. The omega structure of the Lince frame - lower central part - provides for the subdivision of the masses in front and behind, and the reference to the system transaxle of Alfa Romeo is perceptible even if on the Lince the masses are bound to the frame. In fact, in the underbody there is only the presence of the transmission shaft and exhaust pipe that follow a specific inclination to avoid perforations of the cell. The English on the Panther CLV (variant of the Lynx for the British Army) call the cell "citadel". A winning idea also adopted by the H1, but it must be considered that any object inside or outside the armored structure can become a lethal bullet.

To understand the concept, I met a well-known face of science for the readers of Defense Online: Professor Nicola Ludwig, physics professor and researcher at the University of Milan; with simple words and a captivating sympathy, the professor, with an example, explains to me that a punch generates from 20 to 50 g and that a body stressed - by an accident / by a shock wave - suffers a multiplicative effect of its mass.

It is also important to consider as lethal the objects stored and not insured inside the Lynx cell during operational use: a helmet, a water bottle, a magazine, a weapon, but also the same occupants not attached to the specials. belts. These, in fact, would undergo an acceleration that would increase their kinetic energy in a few tenths of a second with a multiplicative effect of the square of the speed reached.

In this regard, we will remember the '77 accident on the Silverstone circuit, where the F1 driver David Purley, due to the accelerator block, suffered the most violent deceleration in the history of racing (photo). The pilot's body passed in just 66 centimeters - during the crash - from 178 to 0 km / h, undergoing a force equal to 179,8 g, but fortunately Purley was only injured.

It may be more explicable to think that a body of 65 kg of weight traveling at 80 km / h, during a collision on a rigid barrier, acquires a force superior to 3 tons.

The internal structure

The importance of the Lynx housing cell is appreciated by understanding that the 100 or more g are only the final result of devastating supersonic shockwaves and, moreover, incandescent, able to overturn, deform and ignite the vehicle.

The concept provides that the 5 seats of the VTLM are not fixed to the body as usual, but anchored laterally and rearward, leaving an empty space below. The use of the cavities in the large cockpit of the Lince is a strategic detail that we find in the cavity of the roof and in the underbody, purposely flared to deflect and attenuate the pressure of the shock wave. The automatic gearbox also has a perfectly cylindrical shape, probably designed for the same reason. Solutions that reduce the resistance and drastically the g-forces on the military, also avoiding the rupture of the spine or damage to internal organs during violent stresses.

The masses, transmission engine and differentials, are positioned on the centerline of the vehicle and the same disc brakes located at the exit of the 4 axle shafts, a concept that reduces the suspended masses already known in Alfa Romeo to favor performance. The fuel tank that is especially far from the cell can free itself.

The average thicknesses of the ballistic steel used at strategic points also reach the 120 mm; the doors, the "lighter" part, are instead integrated with plates made of composite ceramic honeycomb material, able to break the tip of the ogive, slowing down the kinetic force of projectiles or rockets. Inside the structure, a double cage is added with longitudinal and transverse supports - similar to that used in rally cars - and for access to the vehicle, also for testing, it is advisable to use the helmet as well as the belts.

You do not drive like an SUV

The rapid introduction into service was simultaneous with the baptism of fire for the Lince VTLM. A condition that probably did not allow the tenants to become familiar with his / her street behavior all terrain, and in many cases the driving style used was of the automotive rather than specialist type. The driving of a tank truck itself, for example, changes in relation to the presence or absence of the transported liquid. Investments, exercise and training are fundamental and selective aspects valid for everyone, even for F1 drivers.

Comments “Half still Half dead”… the VTLM 2 the optimum

Many of the military and civilians have wondered why there was a late Italian organization on updating tactical and logistic means. Just look at the dilemma linked to the alienation of the Fiat AR76, replaced for a certain period by the VM90 due to the lack of a valid Italian 4x4, until the much-criticized AR90 Land Rover enters. On the other hand, after the fall of the Berlin wall, everything happened quickly, in a European context where diplomacy and a few too many "gentlemen" have probably influenced our organization.

It seems right to bring back the opinions that gravitated Online around the first series of the Lince, as well as some testimonies that appeared in the press. In this regard, some soldiers say: "Whoever speaks is isolated". This is essentially what emerges when proposals are made on the quality of operational work serving, among other things, the community.

Someone then says that it is better to have an "imperfect vehicle" but one that saves lives, rather than a lot of technology that can backfire. A concept that is fully part of the motto of the tanker friends.

The perplexities would concern a rather hasty introduction (and perhaps we have understood why) of a medium with underperformed performance compared to speed. Under the lens the criticized aspects were also others, such as the suffering braking system of fading, the suspensions that are too soft and the associated risk of overturning, but also the weight of the doors which forces the exit from the turret in case of overturning on the side.

"San Lince" the VTLM 2

With feline qualities as a great climber, the VTLM is an operationally widespread vehicle that has saved numerous lives, like the Oshkosh L-ATV and Mercedes G Wagon.

"San Lince" is the nice nickname that circulates in the operational departments. Always built by hand and powered by the Iveco Daily F1C engine from 3.0, its 185 horses have switched to 220 and the automatic transmission from six to eight speeds (as with the Mercedes G Wagon), improving the torque output and the 'elasticity and readiness of his range.

The slowdown is also appreciable by climbing two more gears. Its mass passes to eight tons, and suspensions and set-up have been necessarily revised, introducing traction and stability control systems; The VTLM 2 can work at full capacity even with insidious desert temperatures, proving to be more comfortable and always customizable; it can be equipped with fire response systems or complex software for transmission, motion detection, radar and radio noise as well as IR night vision.

Special thanks to Professor Nicola Ludwig, professor and researcher of Physics at the University of Milan, author of numerous articles, books and initiatives, such as the "Theater and Science Festival for schools" as well as known by Sky Discovery audience Channel for the TV show "How football is done".

Photo: opening http://www.civonline.it/articolo/militare-morto-disposto-il-sequestro-di... / web / IVECO DEFENSE VEHICLES - A CNH INDUSTRIAL COMPANY