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| P-19R Pre Production Vehicle Photo: Oshkosh |
Oshkosh Defense, a unit of Oshkosh Corp. [OSK], debuts its P-19 Replacement Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) vehicle, the next generation first response vehicle for aircraft fire emergencies at military bases and expeditionary airfields, at Modern Day Marine this week.
The $192 million P-19R ARFF vehicles support and sustainment contract was awarded to Oshkosh Defense by Marine Corps Systems Command at the end of May. The work is expected to be completed by May 2018, with an estimated total of 200 vehicles.
“For the P-19R, Oshkosh Defense brought together the advanced firefighting capability from the Oshkosh Airports Striker Vehicle and packaged in the running gear of the proven rugged logistic system replacement for the Marines,” John Bryant, senior vice president of Defense programs for Oshkosh Defense, told Defense Daily.
“We’re about to hand three pre-production variant P-19R vehicles to the Marines so they can perform year-long, very vigorous tests on the platform,” he said. Oshkosh Defense, meanwhile, is performing its own rigorous test program, and will continue testing after delivery, and support government testing to ensure there is no duplication of tests.
Production for P-19R now is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2014.
Firefighting standards have evolved since the first P-19s went into service in the mid-1980s. More firefighting and automotive capability is required, as well as the ability to perform off road.
The P-19R will provide more advanced on- and off-road firefighting vehicles for Marines and replace their current Oshkosh P-19 ARFF vehicles, which are approaching the end of their service lives. Oshkosh has been supporting the Marine P-19 vehicles for more than 30 years.
The P-19R “combines the best of both worlds,” firefighting expertise and proven off-road capabilities, Bryant said.
Most commercial ARFF vehicles are designed to operate on an airfield, while the P-19R is “not restricted to well-defined airfields, but can go where the Marine Corps rugged tactical Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MVTR) can go.” It can operate in austere environments at expeditionary airfields and conduct long tactical movements on unimproved roads or go off road to get to an incident.
The new ARFF is also strategically transportable and meets NATO rail and air transportation requirements.
“We believe that capability and requirement extends beyond the Marine Corps” to other services and potentially international customers, he said.
P-19R has the same TAK-4 ® independent suspension as the Logistics Vehicle System Replacement (LVSR) and the MVTR, really a benchmark for tactical wheeled vehicles off-road performance, Bryant said. Oshkosh Defense applies that suspension to medium and heavy tactical vehicles as well as the MRAP-All Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV), so they are able to conduct off road operations at a high rate of speed with a comfortable ride.
The advanced firefighting package on P-19R was leveraged directly from the Striker vehicle, and meets the latest version of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 414 standards and design performance parameters.
“We took that package from Striker, tailored it to P-19R and applied to the next generation product,” Bryant said.
For example, the vehicle has a Command Zone system that automates many firefighter challenges, increasing fire fighter safety. Also integrated into the vehicle are next-generation water turrets with infinitely variable speed controls allowing firefighters to accurately place an agent on the intended target. Additionally, a lightweight power divider system allows operators to do “pump and roll” operations, firefighting on the move, rather than having to stop and then fight the fire.
The P-19 design parameters include a modular, scalable architecture, “something we apply to all vehicles,” Bryant said. This allows components to be easily replaced and upgraded as they become obsolete. There’s a growth margin in the vehicle.