Military & defence
Military Vehicle Wash Systems for Bases and the Field
Tracked and wheeled vehicles back from the training area, caked in mud. A gate that has to keep that mud off a public road. A field camp with no drain. A workshop where a fitter needs a clean engine. Each one needs a different wash system, and this page tells you which.
Military Vehicle Wash Systems and What Each One Is For
A military fleet is not washed for looks. A clean vehicle can be inspected. Mud packed into tracks, road wheels and hull plates hides damage and adds weight. And mud carried off the training area ends up on public roads and in streams, which turns a maintenance job into an environmental one.
So there are really four jobs, and they are usually bought separately. Washing the fleet at a fixed facility on the base. Stopping mud leaving the training area, which is a wheel wash at the exit. Washing in the field, where there is no drain and no fixed bay, on a wash point that packs up and moves with the unit. And cleaning in the workshop, where engines and running gear are degreased before a fitter starts. Start with the job you actually have.
Start here
Start with the Job, Not the Product
Six things a base or a unit asks us for. Each one is a different machine, and each has a page of its own.
A Permanent Wash Facility on the Base
Water cannons for tracked and armoured vehicles, high-pressure wash points fed from one pump room, an under-chassis wash and a recycling plant, on one pad.
A Wash Point That Moves with the Unit
Modular steel wash racks that bolt together on a prepared hardstand, with the water treatment in a container that ships with them.
Mud Leaving the Training Area
A wheel wash at the exit cleans tyres and wheel arches before vehicles reach a public road. Portable if the exit moves, set in concrete if it does not.
Buses, Trucks and Light Vehicles
Gantry and drive-through wash for the transport fleet on a base: staff buses, logistics trucks and the light vehicles that stay on the road.
Engines, Running Gear and Interiors
High-pressure cleaners for washing by hand, and steam cleaners for degreasing and interiors, in the workshop where vehicles are maintained.
Wash Water with Nowhere to Go
Sedimentation tanks in series, then an oil–sludge separator or a cyclone filter, so the wash runs on the water it has already used.
The case for it
Why Vehicles Are Washed When They Come Back from the Field
A vehicle back from the field is washed before it goes back into the vehicle park. That is a maintenance step before it is anything else.
- A clean vehicle can be inspected. Cracks, leaks and loose fittings are found on the wash pad, by someone looking, not after a failure.
- Packed mud is weight and wear. Mud set hard in tracks, road wheels and suspension adds load, and it wears parts every hour the vehicle runs.
- Mud on the road is the base's problem. What leaves on tyres and tracks lands on public roads, and the base answers for it.
- Soil and seed travel with the vehicle. Vehicles moving between training areas, or coming home from overseas, can carry soil, seed and pests. Washing them on a contained pad stops that at the source.
Standards, Approvals and Tenders
We make no claims to military certifications or approvals we do not hold. Where a programme names a standard, a test or a set of documents, that becomes part of the project scope and is agreed in writing at the start, not assumed from a web page.
Much military work is bought through a main contractor or a tender. We can work as the equipment supplier to the contractor, and we prepare the drawings, data sheets and technical proposal that a tender asks for.
Choosing a Military Vehicle Wash System — Common Questions
Do we need a wash facility or a wheel wash?
They do different jobs, and many bases need both. A wash facility cleans the whole vehicle, for inspection and for the fitters who work on it. A wheel wash sits at the exit of a training area and cleans the tyres and wheel arches of everything leaving, so mud does not reach a public road. If the problem is mud on the road, a wash facility will not fix it, and the other way round.
Can tracked and armoured vehicles use the same wash as trucks?
Usually the same facility, at different wash points. Heavy and tracked vehicles are washed with high-volume water cannons, which move packed mud fast. High-pressure lances at up to 200 bar then reach the running gear and the places a cannon cannot. The pad, ramps and drain covers are designed for the heaviest vehicle that will use them, and we confirm that against its wheel or track loads before we quote.
Our wash point has to move with the unit. What are the options?
A modular wash rack. It is built from steel modules that bolt together on a prepared, level hardstand, with the pumps and water treatment in a shipping container. When the unit moves, it comes apart and goes on a truck. It still needs a level hardstand at each site, so plan for that.
Where does the wash water go?
Into the system, not into the ground. The washings run to sedimentation tanks in series, then through an oil–sludge separator or a cyclone filter, and the cleaned water goes back to the pumps. Fresh water only tops up what evaporates and what leaves on the vehicles. The mud is dug out of the tanks, not washed into a drain.
Vehicles have to be cleaned before they move to another region or come home from overseas. Is that the same wash?
Usually, yes. The vehicle has to leave clean, with no soil or seed in the tracks, wheel arches, stowage bins or belly plate, and it has to be washed where the washings are caught rather than run off. A wash facility with a sealed pad and sedimentation does the routine wash and this clean-down. The authority that receives the vehicle sets the inspection standard, so tell us which one applies.
Is any of this off the shelf?
The layout is designed around your fleet, your site and the standards that apply. But it is built from modules we already make: pumps, cannons, wash racks, control panels, and sedimentation and separation skids. That keeps a custom system from taking as long as a custom system usually does, and the spares for one site are the spares for the next.
Tell Us What the Base Has to Wash
The vehicles, how many come back from the field at once, where the wash has to go, and any standards the programme names. Our engineers will come back with a layout, and will say so if a smaller system will do.