Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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10 UCW MARCH 17-23, 2021 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM NEWS JEFF THOMPSON, Reporter. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. GM Defense delivers first Infantry Squad Vehicle to U.S. Army by JEFF THOMPSON Firearms Sponsor for Cape Fear Friends of the NRA facebook.com/RhudysFirearms Distribution Driver Needed For Wednesday distribution route Must have vehicle, valid driver's license and insurance Email a brief work history & contact information to: laurel@upandcomingweekly.com CONTACT: Laurel Handforth Distribution Manager 910.484.6200 e 82nd Airborne Division's First Brigade Com- bat Team at Fort Bragg, is slated to receive the first of its kind Infantry Squad Vehicle — a light all-ter- rain troop battlefield carrier intended to transport infantry squads and their equipment. e 82nd is scheduled to receive 59 ISVs. Divi- sion spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Burns says they are not yet on the ground. Eventually, 11 Army infantry brigade combat teams will be outfitted with 59 vehicles each under the first contract. e vehicle is being built by GM Defense LLC, a General Motors subsidiary. Since 1941, the Army has relied on the Jeep and more recently the Humvee for battlefield mobility. But the ISV is the first vehicle designed to carry an infantry squad of nine soldiers and their equip- ment, according to the Army. e ISV is largely based on the frame of the 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize pickup truck. Ninety percent of its parts are commercial off-the-shelf components, said Steven Herrick, the Army's product leader for ground mobility vehicles. GM Defense renovated a plant in Concord, North Carolina, for its production. "Having soldiers ride in a vehicle with their equipment instead of carrying it across many miles of cross-country terrain to their destination means they'll be much less fatigued and better able to carry out their missions," Herrick said. e ISV sacrifices protection for mobility. e fast attack vehicle is completely unarmored and fully open with roll bars rather than traditional siding. e ISV doesn't even have a roof. is tradeoff leaves troops exposed to all forms of enemy fire. A Pentagon assess- ment said the vehicle will provide infantry soldiers with valuable off-road mobility. e assessment described the ISV as cramped, lacking convenient storage space for equipment, but that it meets the Army's require- ments in tests and evalu- ations. e ISV "key requirements are being met, and we are increasing soldier operational readiness by providing an operationally relevant vehicle that can transport small tactical units to a dismount point faster and in better physical and mental con- dition for the fight," Herrick said. e ISV has undergone testing in the Yuma Prov- ing Ground's desert in southwestern Arizona. e vehicle has completed successful tests in the static drops category for low velocity airdrops — the air- borne delivery of equipment and weapons systems from aircraft. e service staged live drops with soldiers executing missions after the drop, he said. Initial operational tests and evaluation exercises were held at Fort Bragg last August. e vehicle is air-droppable from aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules and the C-17 Globemaster. It's small enough to ride inside a CH-47 Chinook heavy lift helicopter, and it's light enough to be slung beneath a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. e initial contract is for production of 649 vehicles, but the Army plans a total of 2,065. Promotional photo of the Infantry Squad Vehicle courtesy of GM Defense.