We have briefly mentioned the Marine Corps' deep strike, deep reconnaissance hybrid diesel-electric vehicle, the Shadow, in the past. The Shadow is a Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Targeting Vehicle (RST-V), created by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS), and has been in development since GDLS was awarded Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) contracts for a new reconnaissance vehicle in 1997.

In 1999, the second phase of the Shadow RST-V program began with GDLS contracted to build four demonstrator vehicles. These were delivered in 2002 and were integrated with mission-specific equipment. Limited User Evaluation took place at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona in 2004. In 2005, GDLS was contracted to upgrade the RST-V with a 30kW export power capability generated by the vehicle's hybrid electric drive, designed to power battlefield loads such as the Unit Operations Center and radars. The vehicle was evaluated in an operational environment in early 2006. The Marine Corps and the Army have rigourous testing protocols to ensure that equipment can stand up to the heat of battle and won't let down their troops.

The Shadow RST-V is a 4x4 hybrid diesel-electric drive vehicle with reconnaissance, surveillance, targeting and C3I (command, control, communications and intelligence) capability coupled with integrated stealth and survivability features. It has significantly improved fuel economy and survivability.

At first glance fuel economy wouldn't seem to be a big issue for the U.S. armed forces, after all, if the price of fuel goes up, the armed forces don't have to worry about the bill. But in fact, fuel is a critic issue due to the fact that as Amory Lovins points out, about half the armed forces' money and around a third of their people are involved in logistics. And of that, 70 percent of the tonnage they move is fuel. Even a small increase in fuel economy can result in a big difference to the number of supply line convoys coming under fire.

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Screw the Prius. Isn't that what the image above says to you? This is the first slide in the presentation Glen Bowling, general manager of Saft America's Space and Defense Division, gave at the EDTA conference yesterday. The session he was speaking at, "Defending our Future: Preparedness and National Security" was lightly attended, but I can't say if attendees were simply not interested in the topic or if they stayed away because it was the last session of the day. Whatever the case, Bowling's presentation laid out the clear distinctions between combat hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and "your mother's HEV," like a Prius.

When a military (Saft sells batteries to different militaries, as well as non-military agencies) asks for a battery-powered vehicle, it has specific needs. These combat HEVs are likely to be in unfavorable situations – parked in the sun in the Persian Gulf for six months – and soldiers need them to perform as expected when needed. Combat HEVs often operate in off-road conditions 24/7 and the on-board energy often needs to do more than move the vehicle, like powering field equipment. Users will also want to be able to do field repairs when something goes wrong.

Military planners like HEVs for a few reasons. They're quieter, which is advantageous in combat, and they use less gasoline. The cost of getting a gallon of gasoline to a combat zone sometimes tops $600, Bowling said, so each drop saved is one less expensive drop that needs to be carried in.

Saft has two types of military HEV batteries, both lithium-ion: combined high energy/high power (for PHEVs) and very high energy (for weapons/propulsion). Saft's technology has found its way into the GDLS 8x8 Demonstrator, the BAE System Lancer and the RST-V hybrid, a light Jeep-style vehicle. Bowling said a hybrid tank running on Saft technology (I missed the name, but it's the one in the picture above) is currently "out in the desert, having a good time" and working well. He didn't say whether or not the soldiers were also having a good time in the desert.

Related:

• Big 3 boost JCI's li-ion battery project

(Edit: "gasoling" typo fixed)