Land operations
Self-sufficiency is security Yet, and unlike the drive for commercial and urban electrification, it is not environmental concerns that are likely to be the primary motivating factor behind this drive. After all, the kinds of munitions deployed by militaries around the world are not only incredibly destructive, but can also be catastrophically toxic, as in the case of Iraq where the US-led coalition was well-known to have used depleted uranium rounds extensively, leading to ongoing environmental and health crises. Rather, the primary motivation behind this drive for electrification appears to be the reduction of the West’s reliance on fossil fuel producers, many of them having interests divergent from or directly in opposition to Nato and the world order that has been in place since the end of the Cold War. This is particularly true in the Russian example, whereby President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly made moves to punish Western attempts to curtail his ambitions by using his country’s control over vast fossil fuel resources and numerous gas and oil pipelines to dampen supplies and increase prices. “We have now experienced the effect of a disrupted [energy] supply chain, and budgets have been affected by unstable costs,” says Dr Sarah Ashbridge, research fellow in military science at RUSI. “By moving to self-produced, renewable power sources, we reduce our dependency on a supply chain which can be disrupted to such an extent [as imposed by Russia] and minimise our dependency on adversaries like Russia.” Energy security is no minor matter and can deeply impact states’ national security. With even oil-producing giants such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – who have themselves been moving into China’s orbit in the wake of Beijing brokering deals between Riyadh and its Iranian foe in Tehran – drifting away from fossil fuels and investing billions in renewable energies, so too must Western powers move away from being reliant on a fuel supply largely dominated by ever-mercurial and increasingly independent powers. This is a point Ashbridge makes rather succinctly. “Defence can’t have operational security without energy security, especially as we become increasingly digitised,” she says. “We know critical national infrastructure can and will be targeted by an adversary like Russia, so defence has to find ways to operate which can be self-powered where national energy infrastructure is affected – whether in the UK or in the countries we may fight in.”
Running under our own power So, assuming the UK and its Nato allies can move away from dependency on the likes of Russia, what are their plans for the electrification of typically
energy-hungry military vehicles? What would the military applications of such vehicles be, and just how effective could they be in any future conflict? After all, no one wants an environmentally friendly armoured personnel carrier that cannot deliver troops to battle. To address some of the possible defence applications of electric propulsion, a white paper prepared by Bryan Munce from the British Army’s Armoured Trials and Development Unit in November 2022 laid out how hybrid electric drive (HED) vehicles could change the way the British armed forces conduct wars in the future. In that paper, entitled ‘Electric Propulsion: What are the benefits?’, one of the key advantages identified was the reduced noise signature of such vehicles, allowing mounted units to close in on enemy formations without being detected to maintain the element of surprise. Similarly, minimising thermal signatures was another area of significant interest, “as thermal optics are no longer the privilege of peer forces”, the white paper explains. In existing vehicles powered by diesel engines, heat signatures from hot engines and exhaust fumes can be seen at great ranges and allow enemies to prepare for an incoming attack or to identify the kind of vehicle that they will have to engage. With electric or even hybrid vehicles, however, the thermal profile could be significantly reduced.
Electric propulsion vehicles also cut a more svelte figure, allowing for up to a 20% reduction in size and weight as compared with their internal combustion engine counterparts. This has a direct military advantage, as there is not only less load, but it also means that the physical size of these vehicles can be reduced. Crucially, this means that more of these vehicles can be transported into theatres on air or sea frames – as the white paper identifies, this could potentially mean that some
Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com
The British Army’s Jackal 4x4 has been considered by Dstl as a potential candidate for electrification.
£347m
The value of Dstl defence sector contracts, including for electrification, as of May 2022.
Dstl 9
Martin Hibberd/
Shutterstock.com
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