Metal of Honor
Think of the worst operating conditions your crews face. Now multiply that by 1,000. That’s the situation the men and women of the U.S. military contend with on a daily basis. From the heat and dust of Iraq to the cold and rocky landscape of Afghanistan, military personnel operate in some of toughest places imaginable. What’s more, the stakes for them are no less than life and death.
That’s why the Department of Defense (DoD) wants the best when it chooses equipment for service members. Whether for use by the military for combat construction tasks, federal civilian agencies or our military allies, construction machines both large and small have a long history of providing valuable support to our troops in all applications. With nearly a century of tradition, Caterpillar equipment has long been recognized as high in customer value for the U.S. military. Cat equipment is designed and manufactured not only to meet the stringent demands of the global construction markets, but also to provide durable performance, innovative technology, unmatched ease of operation and convenient serviceability for our armed forces. Those attributes were key reasons the DoD chose Caterpillar for three recent major acquisitions:
- More than 1,000 Cat 120M motor graders will be delivered to the Army, Navy and Marines over the next few years.
- The Army Engineers and Navy Seabees are purchasing more than 1,500 D6Ks and D7RIIs to completely replace their current dozer fleets.
- In addition, the Army Engineers, Navy Seabees and other parts of the DoD selected Caterpillar to provide more than 800 966H and 924H wheel loaders.
All three of these 10-year contracts will enable the entire DoD and Foreign Military Sales buyers around the world to procure additional machines as their needs increase. Each contract was competitively bid, with the DoD putting specific emphasis on logistics support to include parts and service, the technical abilities of each machine and the manufacturers’ past performance.
“The DoD uses best-value evaluation criterion, which allows the government to consider life cycle cost of machines in determining overall value,” says Rick Sharp, marketing and contracts manager for Caterpillar.
Defense and Federal Products
The most critical evaluation factor for the DoD is how well machines can be supported by the manufacturer throughout the world. They evaluate each manufacturer’s worldwide dealer network, which means closely looking at their United States operations as well as key overseas locations such as Korea, Europe, Iraq and Afghanistan. Machines used by the military work in unforgiving environments for long hours and simply must perform. Downtime can literally be deadly in many military applications.
“The U.S. military’s demand for superior global support and Caterpillar’s ability to demonstrate this support worldwide was graded excellent in the government’s evaluation,” Sharp says. “The government liked Caterpillar’s superior global dealer network and our staff’s ability to assist with solving parts or service problems anywhere in the world.”
Each year, commercial customers order more than 43 million items for use on Cat equipment. To support this activity, Caterpillar has 22 parts facilities worldwide, with 10 million sq ft of combined storage space. When you add one of the most reliable, strategically located dealer networks in the industry, you have a logistic support system that can offer the same parts and service support for all governmental agencies.
These resources, coupled with experienced, well-trained personnel, result in more than 99 percent of parts shipped within 24 hours of order. It’s more than just parts delivery. Nearly 3,000 Cat distribution centers, dealer facilities and rental stores worldwide are ready to deliver the right part when and where it is needed.
Sharp noted that many U.S. Cat Dealers have operations near U.S. military installations and are staffed with personnel trained in working with large construction equipment used by the military. Such a close support network also helped make Caterpillar’s bid more attractive.
“Although these were all highly competitive bids, the Government Source Selection Evaluation Board clearly saw that Caterpillar and its dealer network were best positioned to service and maintain the equipment,” Sharp says.
Caterpillar’s Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) is popular for the modernization of the U.S. military’s construction equipment. The SLEP efforts have proven to be a great value for the DoD, enabling the machines to meet mission requirements and realize an additional machine life cycle. The SLEP process is performed at strategically selected dealers throughout the worldwide Cat dealer network. The fact that this work can be done at the dealer sites saves the government millions in shipping costs.
About the Machines
The five Cat machine models were designed and built to exceed the harsh demands of military applications and to offer optimum protection to crew members.
The machines are protected with Chemical Agent Resistant Coating (CARC), which resists corrosion and the penetration of chemical agents. It does not soak up chemical agents the way alkyd paint does. CARC also resists removal by decontaminating solutions.
Each machine also comes with armored protection, which includes an optional armored cab. Armored cabs provide the operator 360-degree protection from small arms fire and fragmentation threats. Motor graders are fitted with specially designed blackout lighting systems so a machine can operate in darkness. The D7RII dozer is designed to ford fresh water up to 30 in. in depth while the D6R is capable of fording up to 24 in.
Other military modifications include:
- Rifle brackets
- NATO start receptacles
- Keyless engine start switches
- Military oil sampling valves
Like many global manufacturers, Caterpillar is committed to all branches of the military, U.S. federal government agencies and state and local government customers alike. The products are known the world over for quality, reliability and durable performance. Unlike the military, your governmental agency may not face life-and-death situations on a daily basis. But you have a unique set of goals to achieve when purchasing machines that many other contractors and agencies may not face. If the military can trust Caterpillar to help complete its mission in Iraq and Afghanistan, so can you.
Barry Gantenbein is editor of Caterpillar Governmental Solutions Magazine at High Velocity Communications, based in Waukesha, Wis.
