Heavy Equipment Transport System

The Heavy Equipment Transport System (HETS) is a military logistics vehicle used to transport, deploy, and evacuate tanks, armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery, and other heavy vehicles. Using HETS saves wear and tear on the tank, and is more cost efficient, as tanks are extremely expensive to run and maintain. Since the tanks do not need to self-deploy to the battlefield, enroute breakdowns are prevented, and more fighting vehicles will be available for combat.

M911/M746/M747

Prior to 1993, the U.S. Army employed the Commercial Heavy Equipment Transporter (C-HET), which consists of either the M746 or the M911 truck tractor, with the M747 semitrailer. Close to 1200 of these trucks were built in the mid 1970's by Oshkosh Truck Corporation of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. [cite web |url=http://www.usarc.army.mil/88thRSC/other_units/history_museum/trucks.htm |title=Fort Snelling Military Museum |accessdate=2006-11-15 |format= |work= ] During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm the HETS vehicles were employed primarily to haul M1 Abrams 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

	M911 tractor	M746 tractor	M747 trailer
Length:	30 feet	27 feet	48.2 feet
Width:	9.5 feet	10 feet	11.5 feet
Height:	11.8 feet	10 feet	6.8 feet
Weight:	26.3 tons	25.8 tons	17.1 tons
Speed:	43 miles per hour	38 miles per hour	N/A
Range:	614 miles	200 miles	N/A
Crew:	2	2	N/A
Engine:	430 hp diesel engine		N/A
Transmission:	5-speed automatic		N/A

M1070/M1000

In 1993 the U.S. Army started fielding the M1070 Truck Tractor and the M1000 Heavy Equipment Transporter Semi-trailer. The tractor is produced by Oshkosh Truck, and the trailer is manufactured by Systems & Electronics, Inc. in St. Louis. The HETS transports payloads up to 70 tons – primarily Abrams tanks, but is also used for other large military equipment such as forklifts and various tracked vehicles. It is capable of operating on highways (with permits), secondary roads, and cross-country. This version of HETS has a number of features that significantly improve the mobility and overall performance of the system in a tactical environment. The M1070 tractor has front- and rear-axle steering, a central tire-inflation system, and cab space for six personnel to accommodate the two HETS operators and four tank crewmen. The M1000 semi-trailer has automatically steerable axles and a load-leveling hydraulic suspension. It is air-transportable by both C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

General Characteristics

	M1070 tractor	M1000 trailer
Length:	215 IN	51' 10"
Width:	140 IN	12'
Height:	145 IN
Weight:	41,000 LBS	50,000 LBS
Speed:	40-45 mph	45 MPH
Fuel:	150 Gallons in the Driver side tank, 100 Gallons in the Passenger side tank	N/A
Range:	300 miles	N/A
Crew:	2	N/A
Payload:	140,000 lbs
Engine:	500 horsepower Detroit Diesel V92	N/A
Transmission:	Allison CLT-754 5 Speed Automatic with TC-496 Torque Converter	N/A
Fording:	28 in

External links

* [http://www.army.mil/fact_files_site/het/index.html Army data sheet]

Notes