Heavy Equipment Transporter System (HETS) is the name of a U.S. Army

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

vehicle transport system, the primary purpose of which is to transport the

M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare and now one of the heaviest t ...

tank. It is also used to transport, deploy, and evacuate

armored personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Ac ...

self-propelled artillery Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled ...

armored bulldozer The armored bulldozer is a basic tool of combat engineering. These combat engineering vehicles combine the earth moving capabilities of the bulldozer with armor which protects the vehicle and its operator in or near combat. Most are civilian bu ...

s, and other heavy vehicles and equipment. The current U.S. Army vehicle used in this role is an Oshkosh-built M1070 tractor unit in A0 and A1 configurations which is coupled to a DRS Technologies M1000 semi-trailer. This combination replaced the earlier Oshkosh-built M911 tractor unit and M747 semi-trailer.

M1070 and M1000

A Fox NBC-detection vehicle is transported by a HETS trailer

To meet a US Army requirement for the transport of the M1 Abrams series main battle tank (MBT) Oshkosh Truck Corporation (now Oshkosh Defense) proposed the M1070. A contract for 1044 M1070s was placed, with production commencing in July 1992. The final U.S. Army contract for the original A0 version called for 195 vehicles. These were delivered between March 2001 and March 2003. A total of 2,488 A0 versions were delivered to the U.S. Army. Following extensive use, some M1070s have been Reset to original build standard by Oshkosh. The M1070E1 model was developed in the mid-1990s in conjunction with the U.S. Army as a possible Technology Insertion Program (TIP) for the M1070. No orders were placed. In March 2008,

Oshkosh Defense Oshkosh Corporation, formerly Oshkosh Truck, is an American industrial company that designs and builds specialty trucks, military vehicles, truck bodies, airport fire apparatus, and access equipment. The corporation also owns Pierce Manufact ...

announced a contract award from the U.S. Army to begin engineering and initial production of the next-generation of HET. Oshkosh announced in October 2010 its first delivery order for the M1070A1 HET. Production of the M1070A1 concluded in August 2014, with 1,591 new vehicles built. The M1000 trailer is used with the M1070A0 and M1070A1 tractors. The M1000 was originally developed as a private venture by Southwest Mobile Systems (later Systems & Electronics Inc (SEI), now DRS Technologies) as a response to a possible US Army requirement for transporting M1 and M1A1 MBTs. A production order for 1,066 M1000 units was placed by the U.S. Army in 1989. By July 2009 more than 2600 M1000 trailers had been ordered. *The M1070 and M1000 are both air-transportable by

C-5 Galaxy The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-rang ...

C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of t ...

aircraft. *The M1070 replaced the Scammell Commander as the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

heavy tank transporter in 2001. The UK version ( M1070F) is compliant with European legislation on emissions (EURO III).

Previous Heavy Equipment Transports

M25 Tank Transporter

The ''M25 Tank Transporter'' was a heavy tank transporter and

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...

recovery vehicle A tow truck (also called a wrecker, a breakdown truck, recovery vehicle or a breakdown lorry) is a truck used to move disabled, improperly parked, impounded, or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. This may involve recovering a vehicle damaged i ...

used in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and beyond by the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. Nicknamed the ''Dragon Wagon'', the M25 was composed of a 6×6 armored tractor (''M26'') and 40-ton trailer (''M15'').

M746/M747 - M911/M747

M911 Tractor Truck with a HET semitrailer

Prior to 1993, the U.S. Army employed the Commercial Heavy Equipment Transporter (C-HET), which consisted of either the M746 or the M911 truck tractor and the M747 semitrailer. *The M746 was an 8×8, 22-ton tractor built by

Ward LaFrance The Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation was an American manufacturer of trucks and fire apparatus founded by Addison Ward LaFrance in 1916 in Elmira Heights, NY. The company ceased operations in 1979. LaFrance was a relative of Truckson LaFrance, th ...

from 1975 to 1977. Approximately 125-185 were built. *The lift axle, 8×6, Oshkosh M911 superseded the M746 after 1977. During Operations

Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

and

Desert Storm The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases ...

the M911 vehicles were employed primarily to haul

tanks. However, they demonstrated poor durability when loads exceeded 60 tons. Some are still serving as heavy transports of other military equipment, such as cargo handling equipment.

General Characteristics

Operators

References

External links

Project Details of the Oshkosh 1070FOshkosh Corporation Website

Oshkosh Corporation Defense Website; M1070A1 page
{{Oshkosh Corporation Military trucks of the United States Military vehicles introduced in the 1990s Oshkosh vehicles Tank transporters