“Unleashing Excellence: How HUMS Revolutionizes Ground Support with Vérité Solutions”

On May 15, 2020, ARQUUS revealed a report detailing the deployment of HUMS (Health and Usage Monitoring Systems) in a military fleet presented before a group of defense officials. This report concludes a six-month tactical evaluation carried out on a fleet of 20 VAB (Véhicule de l’Avant Blindé) armored vehicles at the Camp de Mourmelon near Châlons-en-Champagne. The preliminary outcomes of this assessment stress the importance of data collection solutions and lay the groundwork for predictive maintenance systems for land equipment. Consequently, the EVTA Vérité opens new paths for the advancement of Land MOC (Maintenance in Operational Condition).

In December 2018, the French Army tasked Arquus with a trial aimed at predictive maintenance tools for land equipment: the Evaluation Tactique Vérité (Tactical Evaluation Vérité, where Vérité represents VEhicules Roulants Instrumentés et Tactiquement Employés, instrumented and tactically employed rolling vehicles). This trial commenced with the collaboration of the SIMMT (Structure Intégrée du Maintien en Condition Opérationnelle des Matériels Terrestres, responsible for overseeing all French land equipment maintenance).

The goal of EVTA Vérité was to assess the suitability of predictive maintenance technologies and their applicability for managing military fleets. It also sought to evaluate the impact of these technologies on maintenance organization while outlining future development phases.

During this tactical evaluation, 20 VABs from the 8e Régiment du Matériel (8e RMAT) were equipped with various HUMS sensors and delivered on June 5, 2019, at CENTIAL (Centre d’Entraînement Interarmes et du soutien Logistique, Combined Training and Logistics Support Center) in Mourmelon. The instrumentation and data collection methods had undergone prior validation at the Satory testing tracks in May 2019.

Throughout the data collection phase at CENTIAL, taking place from June to December 2019, the VABs undertook an array of missions conducted under various conditions and across diverse terrains. This study, executed in partnership with LGM, covered several thousand kilometers in multiple configurations, facilitating the creation and analysis of a robust database on the range of monitored functions.

SIMMT’s positive feedback regarding the use of this initial data collection highlights the significance of the degradation models produced from this research. Analyzing data captured by the sensors allows for the development of comprehensive models to anticipate maintenance needs tailored to the specific environmental and mission conditions. Predictive maintenance enables the anticipation of technical issues several days in advance, improving the planning and operations of maintenance and logistics personnel within the armed forces.

The widespread implementation of HUMS-based protocols within land forces is expected to enhance equipment availability. These innovative methods should provide field commanders with all necessary tools required to accurately evaluate equipment capabilities and maintenance demands.

The use of HUMS denotes one of the groundbreaking solutions currently being designed by ARQUUS to elevate the maintenance of military equipment in operational readiness. These solutions involve the integration of 3D printing alongside both virtual and augmented reality technologies.

ARQUUS has acquired notable expertise in support and maintenance, developed over years of delivering consistent assistance to Army vehicles. Presently, ARQUUS manages over 20,000 vehicles for the French Army. To ensure that support is as close as possible to the operational forces, ARQUUS utilizes an international logistics network combined with thousands of partnership and service locations, both domestically and globally. To optimize all support activities, ARQUUS has invested in its Garchizy logistics center, which functions as the sole hub for spare parts and components for all current and future models within the ARQUUS lineup, both in France and worldwide. These arrangements assure the quickest access to spare parts.