HANOVER, N.H. – Researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) have developed winter-specific tires to assist the Army with safely navigating the Arctic snowy tundra.
Winter-specific tires enhance the safety, handling and performance of vehicles driving on ice- and snow-covered roads and are commonly used on private and commercial vehicles in cold climates. Historically, military vehicles have not used winter-specific tires.
“It’s clear there is an opportunity to improve the winter safety and performance of our vehicles, and the Soldiers appreciate and want that,” said Orian Welling, a CRREL research mechanical engineer. “It always feels good to see our work go from purely conceptual to a real tangible product that can save lives and improve the readiness of our troops.”
When the U.S. Army released its Arctic Strategy, “Regaining Arctic Dominance,” it emphasized that the U.S. is an Arctic nation and that the Arctic security environment contributes directly to homeland defense and is of vital importance to our national interests. The strategy lays out how the Army will generate, train, organize and equip our forces to partner with Arctic allies and secure the nation’s interests and maintain regional stability.
In February 2022, Welling and two other researchers from the CRREL mobility team traveled to the Cold Regions Test Center (CRTC) at Fort Greely in central Alaska to conduct traction and handling tests with concept winter tires for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). The concept winter tires were prepared by siping — cutting small groves into the tread blocks of standard JLTV tires.
Siping improves the flexibility and grip of tires on snow and ice surfaces and is a common feature on winter-specific tires. Since siping can be performed on existing tires, the team was able to get initial data and feedback on the concept tire without conducting a lengthy design and manufacturing process for a fully new winter tire.
Four Soldiers from the 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division’s Stryker Brigade Combat Team drove the JLTV with both standard-unmodified and siped tires through a series of traction and handling tests and provided feedback on their experience.
“After all of the tests we went through, I am confident saying that the siped tires were much better than the standard tire whether we were on snow or ice,” one of the drivers said. “The normal tires became uncontrollable at lower speeds and when steering and cornering in the snow.”
Data was also collected during each test to allow quantification of the handling and traction characteristics between the standard and siped tires. Two high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWVs), one with standard tires and one with the recently authorized HMMWV winter tires, were also tested to provide the JLTV drivers with a qualitative comparison to a known technology improvement. Testing was conducted on packed snow and ice surfaces prepared by the CRTC test support staff.
“We were especially happy with the feedback,” said Clifford Witte, a CRREL general engineer. “Sometimes it can be hard to see incremental improvements in tech without referring only to data. To see the Soldiers respond by essentially requesting these tires be widely deployed as soon as possible confirmed our own feeling that this was a clear equipment gap and that this research would directly benefit the safety of service members deployed to cold regions.”
“While often as engineers we see results only in the form of data analysis and percentage increases, the difference between the standard tire and the new winter tire was instantly apparent,” said Witte. “Drivers were able to navigate our dynamics tests with relative ease compared to the standard tire. While the standard tire was susceptible to slipping out and losing control, the winter tire showed greater control with higher average speed, and driver response was very positive.”
Understanding the basic safety, handling and performance characteristics of concept winter tires is key to estimating the benefit of winter-specific military tires. If the Army chooses to pursue development of a winter-specific JLTV tire, the data and feedback collected in this testing will be invaluable to development of the tire requirements.
“Every step we can take here at ERDC-CRREL to improve performance of our Army’s vehicle fleet in the Arctic is a step towards regaining Arctic dominance,” said Welling. “We are excited to be a part of that effort.”