Mack Defense announced it partnered with TenCate Advanced Armor USA to provide a force protection system for the Mack Granite-based M917A3 Heavy Dump Truck (HDT) and other Mack Defense vehicle platforms. TenCate provided design and engineering support to Mack Defense to equip the M917A3 HDT with a force protection system that protects occupants against threats in hostile environments. The capabilities of TenCate Advanced Armor USA in survivability design is a spin-off of TenCate’s extensive experience in working with passive armor solutions, blast protection and active blast mitigation. Experience in addressing those three threats, which push armor solutions to the limit, has provided TenCate with an in-depth understanding of the materials and solutions required to develop force protection systems.
That same in-depth knowledge also allows TenCate Advanced Armor USA to provide innovative designs for up-armoring, while saving weight and minimizing ballistic gaps. This provides the user with the highest level of protection by gaining ballistic protection without decreasing the mobility and operability of the platform. A leader in the development of force protection systems, TenCate fully integrated the commercial Mack Granite dash and electronics, providing a common operator environment with the non-armored M917A3 HDT. The M917A3 HDT’s force protection development program included armor solution design, blast modeling and live-fire testing. The design offers customizable protection kits to allow the force protection solution to be tailored to the threat environment and customer requirements.
The first application of this cab is the M917A3 Heavy Dump Truck. The U.S. Army awarded Mack Defense a firm-fixed-price $296 million contract in May 2018 to produce up to 683 M917A3 HDTs. Based on the commercially available Mack Granite model, the Mack Defense M917A3 HDT has been optimized to meet the demanding requirements of the U.S. Army including heavier-duty rear axles, all-wheel drive, increased suspension ride height and other ruggedized features. The U.S. Army signed the agreement Nov. 30, 2020 to purchase 99 Mack Granite-based HDT’s after completing two years of successful Production Vehicle Testing of 12 vehicles at the U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Test Center in Aberdeen, Maryland in accordance with the contract program timeline. Then on March 29, 2021 an additional order of 56 HDTs were placed as part of the 2021 Presidential budget. Production of the HDTs at the MEC began in Q1 2021, following an investment of $6.5 million to create a dedicated HDT production line at the facility.
Mack Defense, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mack Trucks, is responsible for the sale of heavy-duty trucks to federal- and ministerial-level customers globally. Mack Defense, LLC, is part of the Volvo Group, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks, buses, construction equipment, and marine and industrial engines. The Group also provides complete solutions for financing and service. The Volvo Group, which employs almost 100,000 people, has production facilities in 18 countries and sells its products in more than 190 markets. In 2018, the Volvo Group’s sales amounted to about $43 billion. The Volvo Group is a publicly held company headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.
