21 September 2021

DSEI 2021: British Army demonstrates progress with HED-powered prototypes

by Peter Felstead

A HED-equipped Jackal 2 high-mobility patrol vehicle and Foxhound protected patrol vehicle demonstrating silent running outside the ExCel Centre at DSEI 2021. (Janes/P Felstead)

Evidence that the power and mobility advantages of vehicles powered by hybrid electric drive (HED) are approaching real-world utility on the modern battlefield was in evidence at this month's DSEI exhibition in London in the form of three vehicles demonstrated by the British Army.

The three vehicles – a Jackal 2 4×4 high-mobility patrol vehicle, a Foxhound 4×4 protected patrol vehicle and a MAN SV 4×4 6-tonne tactical truck – each featured various commercially available HED systems supplied by UK firm Magtec. The Jackal, for example, has a four-cylinder Cummins diesel instead of the original vehicle's six-cylinder powerpack; a 150 kW electric generator; a 60 kW/hr battery; and four traction motors each rated at 50 kW driving the wheels.

The vehicles were shown running silently on just electrical power as well as easily negotiating a vertical concrete step about 40 cm high. The Jackal and Foxhound were also shown using their independently controlled and powered wheels to ‘pirouette in place': a manoeuvre impossible for their conventionally powered counterparts that demonstrated their mobility options in confined spaces.

Evidence that the power and mobility advantages of vehicles powered by hybrid electric drive (HED) a...

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