Aircraft and truck transportable pallet

Abstract

A pallet designed to be loadable onto both an aircraft and a truck (in particular a PLS truck or other truck utilizing a hook system such as those used to load traditional CROPs or flatracks) and interface with restraint systems on both the aircraft and the truck without the pallet having to be unpacked and repacked in the transition. This will generally be a pallet for use with both United States C-130 and C-17 aircraft and United States HEMTT-LHS or PLS trucks, but can be adapted for use with aircraft and / or transportation vehicles of different types and / or used by different militaries or civilian organizations throughout the world.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60 / 401,638 filed Aug. 6, 2002 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60 / 461,972 filed Apr. 10, 2003. The entire disclosure of both documents is herein incorporated by reference.[0002] 1. Field of the Invention[0003] This disclosure relates to the field of pallets for transporting cargo. In particular, to military pallets designed to be usable on both aircraft and ground vehicles without the need for unloading the cargo from the pallet between the aircraft and the ground vehicle.[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art[0005] Military units around the world use a wide variety of transport vehicles for getting large quantities of diverse materials needed for effective combat operations from the plants or factories where those materials are manufactured, or from other positional sites for distribution, to the point where those materials are utilized. Logistical activities support a broa...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, the movement of ammunition can be challenging because of its variety of shapes, its weight, and its explosiveness.

In combat operations, these factors can lead to numerous logistical issues in getting ammunition from either the manufacturer or ammunition supply point to the soldier in the field.

For instance, ammunition will often need to be transported by aircraft to reach a distant theater, but normally transport aircraft cannot land at the forward edge of the battle area or other similar points where the ammunition is most needed.

This series of steps is inefficient as having to unpack and repack the materials on the different types of pallet requires significant man-hours of labor and is a hindrance in getting cargo such as ammunition, to a final destination as quickly as possible.

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