Protecting fuel distribution lines in support of military operations in hot danger zones is a major concern for military planners. The French Army has recently deployed the Carapace, a highly protected fuel lorry designed to survive an ambush attack, fight back and cpress on delivering the fuel to the front lines.
Carapace is a cooperative effort to protect French logistical vehicles, demonstrated this week at Eurosatory. The long distance petrol supply lorry is in service with the French Army logistics corps.
The lorry produced by Scania, and protected with an armored cab developed by Essonne Securite, is fitted with a ballistic armor kit and remotely operated turret mounting a 0.5″ Cal machine gun operated from the protected cab. It is also equipped with a number of removable active and passive elements.
The weapon station is also equipped with day/night cameras and laser rangefinder. A jammer offers protection against remotely controlled IEDs. Runflat system enables the truck to escape a danger zone even after the tires were punctured.
Carapace carries a fuel tank with maximum load capacity of 22,000 liters. It is displayed in a tanker configuration, pulling a fuel tank and ground fuelling system provided by Desautel and Maisonneuve.
Protecting the Flamable Load – #Carapace Demonstrates Protected Logistics at #Eurosatory @defenseupdate pic.twitter.com/0dMhcj8Ee9
— defenceupdate (@defenseupdate) June 15, 2016
