The powertrain architecture of future tactical vehicles is driven by requirements for Silent Watch endurance, Silent Mobility and Export Power. Vehicle programme planning requires architectural decisions at an early stage, but conventional optimisation tools such as Autonomie are time consuming and resource intensive. This paper develops a standardised 24-hour mission profile and applies it to two British Army vehicles; the Boxer 8×8 wheeled platform and the Foxhound-class light patrol vehicle. The mission profile, which is equally applicable to US Army vehicles, is presented for open access, addressing the lack of standard cycles for tactical vehicles, and step-by-step instructions with supporting calculation workbooks are provided that do not need specialist modelling expertise. The cycle is implemented with ePOP Concept version 1.0, an optimisation tool from ZeBeyond Ltd., and parallel and series hybrid architectures are compared for each platform. Functional requirements for Silent Watch endurance, Silent Mobility range and continuous Export Power, are applied. Feasible design regions meeting all requirements are identified for both platforms, and the benefits of ICE-only (internal combustion engine), parallel-hybrid and series-hybrid architectures are compared. The combined mission profile and screening method provide a practical means of supporting architectural decisions quickly with reduced resources at the concept stage of military vehicle programmes.
Rupert Tull de Salis (2026) studied this question.