An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 15 The Lockheed Martin Armoured Combat Vehicle was one of the contenders for the US Marine Corps amphibious AFV requirement, though not selected it is being proposed for other opportunities. 8x8 Fire truck used by Aer Rianta Fire, similar vehicles are in service in the US. The Thales Bushmaster Protective Mobility Vehicle is in service with Australian, Netherlands and UK armed forces. Timoney Technology facility Navan, Co Meath. The 8x8 Lazar 3 developed by YugoImports is being supplied to the Serbian Armed Forces. Another example of the company's strategy to support manufacturers was an agreement with STK. Working together they developed the Terrex AFV family. The first version, Terrex 1, is an 8x8 wheeled armoured vehicle, currently being used by the Singapore Army. Production of the Terrex started in 2005, this utilized the more advanced hydro-pneumatic suspension system and latterly evolved in to the Terrex 2 that forms the basis of the proposal submitted by STK, and fronted by SAIC, to the US Marine Corps for its requirement for a new amphibious armoured vehicle. Other systems include drivelines and mobility solutions for many of the world's AFV manufacturers including the CM-32 or Clouded Leopard, (8x8) produced by the Republic of China Army in Taiwan, solutions for Korea, Egypt, JugoImports of Serbia for the Lazar 8x8, and Kamas trucks in Russia. One of the early adopters of Timoney driveline technology was the USAF who purchased 250 systems for use in their P23 fire trucks, many of which are still in service today. Amongst other users of Timoney tech- nology is the fire service at Baldonnel where a Timoney variant fire truck has seen service for many years. The company has successfully produced drive- lines for military trucks as well as AFVs, producing the 6T driveline system for Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles, which holds a record for the fastest time on the German Army test track for all terrain vehicles. In the civil market similar success was achieved with Ginaf Trucks and the De Rooy Team for the Dakar Rally, with one of them completing four Dakar's on the same suspension system, which really shows its reliability. In the civil market similar driveline systems are used on some of the world's largest mining vehicles produced by Terex, where reliability is critical to the success of the mining operation, as a vehicle off the road even for 24 hours can equate to many thousands of Euros lost production. The technology used by the military has moved at a fast pace in recent years and Unmanned Vehicles is the next leap forward. The US DARPA Crusher Un- manned Vehicle uses a Timoney designed traction and suspension system that has an unprecedented 800+mm of wheel travel and represents the next genera- tion of autonomous vehicles. For many of the vehicles the company has designed and developed it is not just the suspension system and drivelines but the integration of these with the chosen power plants and complete under hull chassis system to ensure that the vehicle has the best mobility possible. During the developments it has worked with STK on Timoney has used Caterpillar Defence Products power packs. This pairing of reliability in both power plants and suspension systems with STK producing the armoured hull and capability module has proven to be a formidable force, with the two companies working together on 5 projects to date. One of these programmes was a project for the Australian Army where the company designed and produced the complete 8x8 ar- moured vehicle chassis from paper to delivery in six months, a bit of a record for any vehicle company. Timoney Technologies have a long history with 2017 marking their 50th anniversary in business and have shown how important it is to produce a vehicle from the wheels up. For more information on Timoney vehicles used in the DF, please see Ralph A. Riccio publication AFVs in Irish Service Since 1922.

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