MOST/MLVW Bulletin Number 6

On July 24, 1985, Treasury Board approved the purchase of an additional 600 ILTIS thus allowing the Canadian Forces to completely replace the aging mixed fleet of 1/4 ton MS8A’s and M151’s. What may to the casual observer have appeared to be a minor revision to a major capital project was actually the successful end to a long sequence of tedious research, briefings, and submissions both in writing and in formal presentations by the project team. Before the original ILTIS contract was let, the Forces had established that 2,727 vehicles would nicely fill the bill for the replacement of the 1/4 ton fleet. The absolute minimum was set at 2,500. As it turned out, funding was available for only 1,900 vehicles.

Although 1,900 new vehicles are better than none at all, the prospect of maintaining a mixed fleet of totally dissimilar new and old vehicles detracted slightly from the triumph of securing the original replacement approval. Furthermore, the relegation of the remaining 600 old and relatively unsafe M151’s to the Militia was in fact a return to the bad old days when the Militia were always equipped with the worst equipment or nothing, whichever was available at the time. Consequently, the approval of the “Additional 600” as they have come to be known, came as a real feather in the cap for those on the project team who worked so hard to accomplish the goal and a boon to those of us who have to drive them and maintain them.

Production at Bombardier of the additional 600 will fall into step immediately behind the original run of 1,900, putting the run dates at January to July 1986 inclusive.

An interesting note on the label ‘Additional 600” is that a lot of people out there assumed that “additional” meant “over and above entitlement’. Several queries have already been received at the Directorate of Land Requirements to the effect, “How do I get some of those additional new ILTIS you’re buying?” The answer as pointed out earlier, is that you don’t, unless you are one of those previously destined to end up with a Tonka Toy. So, for want of a better name, the Additional 600 will now join the Original 1,900 to became the new fleet of 2,500 ILTIS 1/2 ton trucks…which is what we asked for in the first place!

The CF has awarded a contract to Bombardier Inc of Valcourt, P.Q for the purchase of 1,900 ILTIS Cdn trucks. DND has also received authority to purchase a further 600 ILTIS for a total of 2,500 vehicles, to replace the M38 Cdn and M151 A2 Jeeps. As this issue of the MOST Bulletin is being prepared, over 1,800 of the ILTIS Cdn have been built and they will be fielded in 1986.

The ILTIS was developed by Volkswagen in West Germany in the late 1970's for the FRG Army which now has over 8,000 of these vehicles. Belgium has also contracted to purchase 2,500 vehicles through Bombardier who have the worldwide license rights and the tooling to manufacture and sell the vehicles. There are other customers who are also interested in the ILTIS. Due to Canada’s purchase of the vehicle Bombardier was able to acquire the tooling to build the chassis, and the body. The power train (engine, transmission, differential), suspension, axles, steering system, springs, brakes and wheels come from the original manufacturer Volkswagen Audi and their sub contractors. Wherever feasible, the ILTIS Cdn remains identical to its Volkswagen parent. The necessary changes were outlined in our last MOST/MLVW Bulletin number 5.

The ILTIS was developed as a military truck but its components were to utilize as many commercial parts as possible. Therefore many parts of the power train are similar to other Volkswagen products. The engine is the standard block of the VW 049 1.7 Litre motor found on many vehicles. These number in the hundreds of thousands throughout the world. The drive train and suspension were modeled on the Audi, “Quatro” rally car which has been a very successful competitor in the European Rally competitions since 1982. Some of the transmission parts are common with the Audi 5000 car. The ILTIS won the Paris-Dakkar rally in 1980.

The frame of the ILTIS is of a ladder type construction with closed and sealed box sections, (see Figure 1); it is rugged and springy. It has proven itself in cross country operation and its flexibility became particularly evident during the air drop tests at CABC Edmonton in June 1984. With the full power train and suspension mounted to the frame, the vehicle will continue to operate even when the body has deteriorated.

The body is made of a light metal, only 0.9 mm thick and constructed as a welded unibody. The whole body from the front plate to the rear tail is assembled as one complete piece. It is dropped onto the frame (Figure 2) and held in place with eight body mounting bolts. The body is quite rigid and light weight. It has gone through a seven stage paint preparation cleaning process, then it is treated with zinc phosphate, dipped in zinc chromate, sprayed with epoxy primer, top coated with polyurethene olive drab paint and is finished with a green and black camouflage coating. Iltis undercoated with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) of 60 to 120 thousands of an inch thickness which has been baked on at 370°F for 25 minutes. The body is not indestructible, but if it is reasonably cared for it will last quite a long time. The ILTIS body provides approximately 9 ft² or 0.83 m² more space behind the rear seats than was available in the former jeeps. This space is fitted with “C” rails installed in the floor to which radios, SEV kits and cargo have been bolted. It is possible to position these radios or kits anywhere along the “C” rails and to fold or remove the rear seats if desired. Unlike the M38 and M151 A2 jeeps, the user cannot randomly bolt or customize kits to the body of the ILTIS Cdn vehicle.

The operating policy and instructions for the ILTIS specify that the vehicle be driven at all times in four wheel drive. In this operating state the vehicle is stable, efficient and it produces no additional wear to tires, gears nor uses additional fuel. It was found during tests, in some circumstances, that while operating in two wheel drive, the rear axle shafts would break, this is due to their size and their useage in a non military application. The two wheel drive feature was left in the vehicle because it is an inherent part of the existing transmission.

Operators will find that compared to the former vehicles, the ILTIS is more comfortable, easier to operate and very stable on the road. One concern about the vehicle is that it will achieve high speed in the order of 130 to 140 km/h. There is no practicable way of governing the ILTIS without adversely affecting its power which is required for cross country and hilly operation. Officers and NCOs at units must take vehicle driver training seriously and ensure that the crews observe prudent speeds with the new vehicles.

The vehicle is fitted with a roll bar with extensions over the rear passenger door openings. The roll bar is made of aluminum for light weight and strength. It is shaped, welded and then specially heat treated to achieve the required performance. The roll bar is not to be drilled into, welded onto or used as an attachment point without the authorization of the Design Authority MOST 4 or the LCMM DSVEM 2-2. In consideration of previous UCRs on the M151 A2, the ILTIS roll bar is not to be used to mount accessories such as antennae brackets. Consideration was given to extending the roll bar for greater rear seat passenger protection, but such a modification would have been a very large design change, such could not have been achieved prior to production. To date, during RAM-D Tests several ILTIS roll overs have been experienced but no injuries have resulted and the roll bar and seat belts have performed very well.

Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Durability (RAM-D) testing of five production vehicles was held in CFB Borden from January 9 to March 25, 1985.

A RAN-D test of initial production vehicles is, in fact, a scientific experiment where a test sample of vehicles is selected at random from a production line and subjected to the environment in which the vehicle must survive after it is introduced to the field. During the test all the support training, manuals, special tools and test equipment available were employed to evaluate them before introduction. During the test the vehicles performed the mission for which they were designed, over the types of terrain they will experience. They were driven by non-trade drivers (male and female), regular force and militia from various units in Canada. The purpose of the test was to determine if the vehicles could meet the RAM-D specifications, which are part of the contract, and to detect any mechanical, human engineering, safety and maintainability deficiencies. Solutions to any deficiencies are immediately sought and incorporated into the test vehicles for further testing. If they are successful then these same modifications are applied to the production vehicles. The result of all this effort is a fielded vehicle with most of the defects ironed out. This should lead to greater user satisfaction and a substantially reduced requirement for costly retrofit modification programs.

Mission:
To accumulate at least 32,000 km per ILTIS on five vehicles during operation consisting of 9,600 km on paved roads, 14,400 km on secondary roads, 8,000 km on crosscountry with fording and 50% of the time towing a trailer.

Mission Reliability:
The vehicle and ancillary equipment shall demonstrate a Mean Kilometers Between Mission Failures (MKBF) between 4,600 km (minimum acceptable) and 6,000 km (desired).

Durability:
The vehicle, with rated payload, shall demonstrate a 0.5 probability of completing the first 32,000 km of operation without replacement or overhaul of the engine, transmission or differential assemblies, and a probability of 0.7 without replacement or overhaul of the body or frame. An overhaul shall be considered to have occurred when the repair or corrective action required by a malfunction of any components of the above referenced assemblies, exceeds the capabilities of the first and second line maintenance organization.

Mean Kilometers Between Unscheduled Maintenance Actions (MKBUMA):
The vehicle shall demonstrate a Mean Kilometers Between Unscheduled Maintenance Actions of at least 500 km.

Maintainability:
The Maintainability requirements specified are to be achieved throughout the first 32,000 km of operation on each vehicle tested.

Maintenance Ratio:
The ratio of maintenance man-hours to operating hours for all scheduled and unscheduled maintenance (except for daily crew checks and services) shall be between 0.0 and 0.125.

Mean Time to Repair (MTTR):
The MTTR shall not be greater than 2.0 hours.

Maintenance Time Expended

As seen by the above figures, the ILTIS has failed to meet two RAM-D performance requirements, the Mean Kilometers Between Mission Failure (MKBF) and the Mean Kilometers Between Unscheduled Maintenance Actions (MKBUMA). These failures were due mainly to the long delays in Bombardier’s responses to the Failure Analysis Reports (FAR) which resulted in the reoccurrence of the problems.

As stated in the ILTIS Main Contract, if the vehicle fails to meet the RAM-D test requirement, the manufacturer has to modify the vehicles and new vehicles have to be tested with a higher Test Performance Requirement. An ILTIS Reliability Re-Test was conducted in LETE Ottawa from 13 May until 28 May 1985. In order to facilitate the operation of the test, maximum use of drivers and vehicle technicians during RAM-D was necessary.

=== ILTIS Reliability Re-Test — Results

Following both RAM-D and RAN-D retest, a series of modifications have been implemented on the assembly line for the 800 vehicles that are not already built. The majority of the vehicles are still sitting in the yard at Bombardier’s plant in Valcourt, Quebec where another line is now operating to retrofit these vehicles with the following modifications:

1. Fuel pump replacement.
2. Brake cable replacement.
3. Fuel filter replacement.
4. Seat backrest mechanism replacement.
5. Signal flasher unit replacement.
6. Towing pintle pin replacement.
7. Spare tire mount security modification.
8. Distributor ventilation modification.
9. Gear shift lever replacement.
10. Black out light wire rerouting.
11. Grease body mount washers.
12. Strengthen grab handle.
13. Increase alternator belt adjustment.
14. Replace alternator adjusting arm bushing & washer.
15. Clear tool box drain holes.
16. Body reinforcement at rear springs.
17. Install windshield washer hose clamp.
18. Install heater vent flap limiter cable.
19. Replace jerry can strap and buckle.
20. Reweld front bumper.
21. Door bushings holes cleaned of metal filings.
22. Reposition carburator inlet air hose clamp.
23. Secure bulb receptacle in rear composite lights assemblies.
24. Secure wiper motor properly.
25. Retorque:

(A) Body mounts
(B) Pintle hook
(C) Ball joints
(D) Suspension wishbones
(E) Spring U Bolts
(F) Ignition wires
(G) Hub assemblies

TOTAL 31 Items.

By reading the previous pages, you can appreciate that a great deal of effort, manpower and money were spent to insure the ILTIS met the RAM-D requirements. This will insure that a reliable vehicle will be introduced in the CF. This in itself justifies the effort expended on RAM-D testing.

Introduction of anew vehicle into the CF is acomplicated and timely procedure that involves many phases. The last of one of these phases, is the warranty period. This phase may be the last one but it is also an important part of the vehicle introduction into units. It is therefore important, that each and everyone of us supporting the ILTIS ensure the Warranty Procedures are carried out in detail.

Warranty procedures can be complicated and hard to interpret at the best of times. Because of this, MOST 4 has published CFTO C30108000/CS001: SPECIAL INFORMATION INSTRUCTION on Warranty Procedures to highlight certain parts of the Manufacturer's Warranty Policies. This CFTO will be of help to those of you supporting the ILTIS and enable you to understand the warranty procedures on your new vehicles.

It must be understood that the CFTO does not cover all aspects of the Manufacturer's Service and Warranty Procedures for the ILTIS vehicle, so it is important that both documents are read in conjunction. If there is any part of both the CFTO or the Manufacturer’s Service and Warranty Procedures that brings up a question, the answer is only a phone call away.

Any warranty queries can be directed to MOST 4 personnel at telephone (819) 994-3343, locals 379, 380 and 381, or DSVEM telephone number (613) 995-7793. Each supporting base also has a designated Warranty Liaison Officer that is capable of answering most warranty questions. As previously mentioned the warranty phaseis avery important step in the introduction of a new vehicle, therefore, it is important that everyone of us understand and adhere to the ILTIS Warranty Policy and Procedures.

The identification plate can be found on the far left hand side of the dashboard. The information on this plate is as follows:

(a) NATO Stock Number (NSN) —
2320-21-895-3768 — basic
2320-21-899-5702 — tailgate
2320-21-895-3769 — ambulance

(b) Vehicle Identification Number —

(c) Contract Serial Number — 50TL3613030
It is important to note that the information on the identification plate shall not be altered during the life of the vehicle although the ECC will change when a kit is installed.

The introduction of the new ILTIS 0.5 Ton Truck into the CF inventory requires that operator and maintenance personnel receive adequate conversion training. To accomplish this it was decided that conversion training to the new ILTIS 0.5 Ton Truck would be effected using the same ‘Self Paced Training’ method used to implement the MLVW 2 1/2 Ton fleet.

Conversion Training of CF Personnel will involve both Regular and Reserve Forces. This will be accomplished in three major phases as follows:

(a) Phase 1 — Development of a self-paced training package for both operator and vehicle technician (411);

(b) Phase 2 — Validation of these self-paced training packages (Phase 1), and follow on courses for cadre personnel.

(c) Phase 3 — Implementation of self-paced training throughout the CF.

Phase 1. The development phase was done under contract by Friesen, Kaye and Associates of Ottawa through Bombardier Inc. Two separate self-paced conversion training packages were produced (operator and vehicle tech 411) in sufficient quantitites to be able to conduct the validation training. During this initial phase and for validation purposes these packages were only made available in the English Language. However, following the completion of Phase 2 (validation) the master copies were translated and made available in French. The translation process took approximately four months.

Phase 2. The validation phase was also done under contract by Bombardier Inc., and Friesen, Kaye and Associates. Validation and cadre training was conducted in CFB Borden, Ontario. Operator training took place at CFSAL and maintenance training at CFSEME respectively. DND provided the training facilities for the presentation of these courses and the main contractor provided all of the necessary training aids, special tools and test equipment. Thechief instructor and the course coordinator were provided by the sub-contractor and project management respectively. The maximum number of students for each of the validation and cadre courses had been established at 12 persons. For validation purposes, the validation course trainees came from as broad a spectrum as possible, from Trade Level Three (TL3) to CFSEME/CFSAL instructors. The cadre course trainees were all Trade Level Five or above. Validation and cadre training Courses were conducted during the following time frame:

These courses are of two or three days duration for an operator and eight to ten days for a vehicte technician.

Phase 3. After the successful completion of Phase 1 and 2, self-paced training packages were duplicated and made available in sufficient number for distribution throughout the forces. CF Personnel already trained as part of the Phase 2 are assisting their local bases/units in implementing the self-paced conversion training. Training began on schedule 1 August 1985 and should continue as per the master implementation plan schedule, this was distributed to all bases/units who are to conduct the conversion training.

Militia units throughout Canada will be receiving the ILTIS. Before the truck can be considered operational, Militia drivers and vehicle technicians will have to complete appropriate conversion training to ensure proper operation and maintenance of the truck. A similar requirement exists for regular force units.

To that end, two self-paced training packages are/will be available for militia training. These include:

(a) The driver/operator’s conversion package; and
(b) The vehicle technician conversion package.

Militia drivers/operators will train with the same package developed for the regular forces. The cadre personnel for the operator courses were trained at CFB Borden CFSAL in the month of January 1985. A quantity of 22 personnel were qualified at that time.

A special militia vehicle technician’s package was designed and validated by militia trainees at CFB Borden during July. The cadre personnel will be trained in September and October of this year. This modified package was developed in response to one main factor:

Militia Maintenance Functions. Militia vehicle maintenance is often limited to component replacement. In comparison, work at Militia Svc Bn Maint Coy can be compared to routine first line work at regular force base workshops.

Thus the course devotes more time to troubleshooting and less time to the disassembly and rebuilding of components than the technician’s course employed by the regular force.

The English course pending final approval will be reproduced and distributed by mid November 1985.

After final approval, translation and reproduction will also take place. Distribution of the French version is expected by March 1986 at which time the Project Management Office’s responsibility will cease. Administration will then be conducted by FMCHQ.

Regenerative Training is designed to look after on-going training for the life of the vehicle. Master lesson plans and CTP for the schools were revised and updated to include the ILTIS.

Militia CTS and master lesson plans for operator training has been produced and delivered to DIT for furtherance to FMCHQ.C.T.S and M.L.P for technician training has been produced and is in the validation stage at the moment.

Courses Results
On completion of all courses in CFB Borden, students were interviewed and the following observations made:

(a) The course was well-written and easily understood, slides were good and easy to follow.
(b) The self-paced training was preferred over traditional methods of instructions. Students felt they were under less pressure as they could return and repeat a step if necessary.

Visits to certain training bases by project management staff to validate the on-going training are now in progress. CFB Valcartier, Petawawa and Calgary have been done. Due to the fact that the contractor could not provide complete consumable kits on time, there were several small shipments made to training bases, this caused some confusion to trainers who were expecting complete kits. The confusion was further compounded when the contractor placed the partial operator and technician kits in the same shipping containers. Once these problems were resolved training began.

At the visited bases the training program as a whole is going quite well. Personnel seem to enjoy taking the course and the learning supervisors are not encountering any major difficulty in its conduct.