High Mobility Engineer Excavator-Type I

Army, Apr 2006 by Gourley, Scott R

"The 12-ton HMEE will boast a 5.9liter diesel engine, four-wheel drive, four-wheel steer, will lift more than two tons and dig to a depth of almost four meters. It is designed to be airtransportable by Hercules C-130 aircraft."

"Our Savannah team designed and developed this vehicle to meet the U.S. Army's critical mission needs and the JCB HMEE is a remarkable machine ready to support the U.S. Army," said Helmut Peters, president, JCB Inc. North America. "The HMEE will revolutionize the capability of military engineers, thanks to JCB's breakthrough technology, and presents us with huge global opportunities."

The six PVT vehicles now being built by JCB Inc. will be delivered to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., in June of this year. PVT testing will run from June through December with production deliveries scheduled to begin in the June 2007 timeframe.

The HMEE-I contract runs from 2005 through 2010, with a possible two-year option period. The current Engineer Future Force requirements are for 616 HMEE-I platforms to be fielded to SBCTs, BCTs units, Engineer support companies, medium ribbon companies and the TRADOC School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

As to the importance of HMEE-I to the Army, PEO CS &CSS representatives observe, "The HMEE-I provides our Engineer forces with enhanced maneuver capability to keep pace with the Army's highly mobile forces within the brigade combat teams and other Engineer units. It will give our soldiers the latest state-of-the-art capabilities with a self-deployable excavation system that will execute a wide range of mobility, countermobility, survivability and general engineering missions, operating in a full spectrum of environments."