Hybrid electrical drive (HED) vulnerability analysis

Emphasis in hybrid electric technology development has typically been focused on automotive performance and benefits. However, as this technology crosses over into the military arena, vulnerability becomes important. Army combat vehicles must be capable of surviving the full spectrum of threats and environments. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is responsible for assessing this capability when military systems are exposed to ballistic, nuclear, biological, chemical, and directed energy threats; information operations and electronic warfare; flame and incendiary attacks; as well as the influence of the electromagnetic (EM) environment, obscurants, weather, and secondary weapon effects. By performing vulnerability analyses, ARL supports all phases of army acquisition to include design, development, test, and evaluation. A vulnerability analysis performed early in a system design program can result in more survivable systems through the implementation of good design practices. The purpose of this paper is to present the ARL analysis process structure for combat vehicles and to indicate how design practices of a hybrid electric drive (HED) can affect survivability.