New WIM Scale: “Does This Make Me Loook Fat?”

MTVR from C-130(click to view full) Defense Tech notes a recent R&D project from Oak Ridge National Laboratory that’s finally moving to the field. It seems minor, but could have big implications: “The latest Weigh-in-Motion scale is meant to improve the process for preparing vehicles for airload, as it “automatically identifies the equipment, determines the individual axle weights, distance between axles, total vehicle weight, profile and center of balance.” It sounds boring, but this is the crucial data that has to be identified to safely load vehicles on cargo planes for transport, and any slight change in the way equipment is loaded on a vehicle means recalculating everything. Since the information is currently calculated in a very low-tech manner by NCOs and officers with minimal training in how to do so (I used to be one), this step in deployment-prep is often done well in advance and the prepared vehicles (and materiel on them) are then quarantined…” With predictable effects on training. Read David Axe’s article for more.