Qinetiq awarded $3m to drive future armoured fighting vehicles

The Farnborough-based company will apply its electric hub-drive technology in the Ground X-Vehicle Technologies (GXV-T) programme, an initiative launched by US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in August 2014.

Qinetiq’s hub-drive replaces multiple gearboxes, differentials, and drive shafts with compact, high-powered electric motors contained within wheels. The company said that this approach reduces overall weight of the vehicle and introduces new design possibilities that improve safety and increase performance for military and civilian vehicles.

The technology also has the potential to enhance current military vehicles, such as multiple-wheeled infantry vehicles that could be retrofitted with the hub-drive system to exploit the extra power and agility that comes with reduced weight, or use the saving to offset extra armour, equipment, or personnel.

Current armoured vehicles face ordnance that is increasingly effective at penetrating them, but and adding extra armour incurs penalties in terms of vehicle speed, mobility, and increased development and deployment costs.