Established in 1853, Hutchinson is providing smart solutions to meet the most challenging requirements of customers to improve comfort, safety and energy efficiency in mobility on land, in the air and at sea. Our innovations cover a wide variety of particularly demanding markets, from automotive and aerospace to defence, energy, rail and industry.

In defence, the mobility of vehicle in operations is of utmost importance.  The survivability of crews and the safety of the equipment depend exclusively on the protection on board.

From more than 80 years, Hutchinson Defence & Mobility has been protecting some of the most important vehicles for nearly all NATO forces and far beyond. The mission of Hutchinson D&M’s products is to accomplish the mission through the harshest situations so that troop carriers’ vehicles, combat vehicles, logistics trucks and fuel delivery trucks can safely return home.

Based on lessons learned from the field, our specific technologies in wheels:  highly sustainable, very lightweight aluminum rims and very special beadlock and runflat solutions are the first step to keep moving safely.

If one or even all tires are damaged and deflated, i.e. by shootings or mine blast explosions (IEDs), combat vehicles are able to escape from the hot-spot relying on Hutchinson D&M’s runflats. The unrivalled technology of Hutchinson D&M‘s runflats allows for key movement in the runflat mode, off road mode, even in soft or hard terrains. 

Servicing the Turkish Land forces, with the benchmark of NATO Forces: one-piece rubber run flat, known globally as VFITM, Hutchinson is proud to introduce the MVFITM run flat range: the same incomparable run flat performance, including a full reliable field hand mountable system: safe, easy and fast to insert without the need for any specific tools.

Besides military, Hutchinson D&M also procures police vehicles, special protected limousines, cash transporters as well as special fire fighting vehicles with a full range of wheel assemblies and run flat solutions.

Reduce Direct & Indirect Costs, Cutting Logistics Constraints

Additionally, Hutchinson D&M is promoting the product Tire Saver ShieldTM.  The tire’s sidewall represents one of the most vulnerable parts of military wheeled vehicles. It is essential to protect the tires in order to prevent the risk of immobilization caused by sidewall damage, destruction, fire or enemy detection. The Tire Saver ShieldTM, is in service already in many NATO’s forces, and it is a key asset of the vehicle to increase the availability of vehicles and decrease the largest expenses to any fleet of wheeled vehicles in terms of tires, mounting and dismounting of the tire, replacement of the run flat system, towing of the vehicle,  logistics, storage, waste disposal, manpower costs. 

Reduce Weight, Improves Payload but Keep High Level of Protection

Regardless of the conditions, if a vehicle’s fuel tank is perforated, shot, or encounters impacts, then fuel leakage has to be prevented. Sealing a wound maintains vehicle mobility by eliminating the loss of fuel and reduces the risk of fire and explosion. As a solution, the Hutchinson D&M SAFETANKTM instantly seals any entry and exit bullet holes, retaining the fuel inside the tank and minimizing the potential ignition of spilled fuel. Depending on design and specifications, our customized solution seals ammunition wounds up to at least 7.62 NATO/AP, API, 12.7mm, ... By reducing 7 times the weight compared to equivalent level protection of armored steel plates. Hutchinson’s SAFETANKTM KIT can be applied on new vehicles and also retrofitted on existing fleets as armored vehicles, tank trailers or tank containers and other applications. 

Additionally, Hutchinson D&M supports higher protection and provides weight saving advantages with a passive explosion-proof device: ExploShieldTM. The second benefit of this solution is the 80 percent reduction in slosh force. On the one hand, the effect makes vehicle handling much more stable since slosh force is completely reduced in all directions, on the other hand it allows the engineers to dispense with anti-slosh baffles, resulting in significant weight saving for the vehicle.