Military Vehicle Survivability

Survivability is one of the four key attributes which a combat vehicle should possess, the other three being lethality, mobility and capacity. These four attributes are used in the design of combat vehicles in order to achieve the required capability. 

The first aim should be to define the meaning of survivability. In its simplest sense it is the likelihood that the vehicle will survive to do its job. To survive it is necessary to maximise the chance that the vehicle avoids or defeats all the possible threats which it may encounter. Survival will depend upon both technical attributes such as armour and, in addition, the tactics techniques and procedures (TTPs) which are employed. It is often said that success on the battlefield is 60 % TTPs, 30 % equipment and 10 % luck. This means that how the vehicle is used is, if anything, more important than the technology of the vehicle. But it is the technology which allows the vehicle to work on the battlefield and allows the operator to exploit TTPs in pursuit of success. This text we will concentrate primarily on the technology of survivability but emphasis will be placed on how this interacts with TTPs to provide the overall capability.

One of the key concepts of survivability is the exploitation of multiples mechanisms and effects to maximise the survivability of the vehicle. This can be summarised by the mantra – 

Don’t be seen 

If seen don’t be hit

If hit don’t be killed 

The first two terms are sometimes called susceptibility and sum all the factors which prevent the vehicle being hit. The last term can be called the vulnerability and can be thought of as the damage tolerance or damage resistance of the system. In some cases the term killability is used instead of vulnerability.