The Army Logistics Center Wels covers the areas of technology, warehouse logistics, transport logistics and apprentice training. The Upper Austrians are also the technical testing and system center for the Leopard 2A4 weapon system and the M88A1 armored recovery vehicle.
The emergency may take place in Chad, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Carinthia or somewhere else that is not currently on our radar; however, the preparation and implementation of the follow-up supply as a goods collection base is always carried out by the Army Logistics Centers (HLogZ for short) of the Austrian Armed Forces and thus in Upper Austria via the desk of Colonel Alfred Kaser. The commander of the HLogZ Wels is sitting in his office in the Hessenkaserne barracks, leafing through an 80-page commemorative publication on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his department on April 1st. It contains pictures and information on the founding of the Kfz-Anstalt Wels in 1955 and the Heereszeuganstalt (HZA) 13 years later. But also about the renaming of the Hörsching army field vehicle depot in 1977 to the army field vehicle depot (HFzL), the formation of the army supply institute (HVA for short) from the merger of the HFzL and the army economic institutes (HWiA) in 1997 and finally the merger of the HVA and HZA in 2005 to form the HLogZ Wels. “We have thus completed a 50-year evolutionary process and created a modern service provider at army level that covers both warehousing and technical expertise,” Colonel Kaser looks back in an interview with Militär Aktuell.
Like the five other logistics centers of the Austrian Armed Forces, the HLogZ Wels is responsible for the storage, provision and distribution of almost all supplies (the warehouse comprises 6,000 pallet spaces and more than 30,000 different goods!) for daily operations, exercises and deployments at home and abroad. “We are also a goods collection base for foreign missions and the container center of the Austrian Armed Forces. In addition, transport logistics with hook loaders, large-capacity buses and trucks is a central pillar, and the HLogZ Wels is also the technical testing and system center for the Leopard 2A4 main battle tank and the M88A1 heavy armored recovery vehicle,” says Colonel Kaser. “Our people test engines, individual components and materials; the material maintenance of heavy engines, generators, starters, injection pumps and turret pivot bearings also falls within our remit.” Just how complex the subject is becomes clear a few minutes later and several hundred meters further on in the modern tank workshop. While the turret of a Leo is undergoing a test run at the front of the huge hall and a little further on two technicians are busy with the obligatory F4 deadline work on another main battle tank (the turret has been lifted off for this purpose), at the rear of the hall an M88A1 is being fitted with a modified smoke grenade launcher. A little further on, a cannibalized hull is a distant reminder of its former existence as a main battle tank. Somehow. Without swing arms, tracks and superstructures, the monster could also pass for a steel company’s iron material reserve – but it still helps the army to save money. The elements removed and placed next to the Leo hull – torsion bars, ammunition holder, tank, transmission, track tensioner and cable harnesses – are inexpensive spare parts for the existing tank fleet. “We check the parts for functionality, clean and inspect them and store them,” says Colonel Kaser. “If necessary, we can fall back on our own stocks at any time and don’t have to buy in expensive spare parts.”
The army also saves a lot of money in other areas thanks to the work of the HLogZ Wels. For example, Michael Wölfl and Alexander Hödl are currently welding a 25-metre-long double pontoon (consisting of two 12.5-metre-long elements) for Engineer Battalion 3 in the metal workshop, and the HLogZ test engineers can put the drive components installed in the Leopard and Ulan through their paces on their own transmission test bench (“the most modern in Europe”, says Kaser) and engine test bench (“engines up to 2,000 kW can be tested on it”) directly on site. The extensive equipment also includes a magnetic particle test bench, two gearbox test benches, a steering gear test bench, an alternator test bench and a starter test bench. In addition, a reference system for the fire control system of the Leopard 2A4 (“there is nothing like it anywhere else”, says Kaser) was built on site and a circuit board test bench facilitates troubleshooting on the electronic components. Mechatronics technician Elisabeth Brandlmayr, who works in the tank workshop, talks to Militär Aktuell about the advantages of such systems: “This significantly speeds up work processes and allows us to concentrate on other tasks.” In the case of the young technician, this also includes apprentice training. HLogZ Wels is currently training a total of 20 apprentices in ten different professions; in the peak phase in 2009, there were as many as 34.
“This topic is very important to us,” says Colonel Kaser, “we are the largest apprentice trainer in the Armed Forces and take on an above-average number of our apprentices in regular operations after their training.” Bernhard Maier, head of the ICT department at HLogZ Wels, also completed his training on site. He and his 20 employees (plus four apprentices) are now responsible for setting up, maintaining and repairing all telecommunications and computer networks for the Austrian Armed Forces in Upper Austria. “We are also responsible for the maintenance and repair of the firing systems, as well as maintaining and looking after the alarm and access systems and, to some extent, the fire alarm systems.” The ICT workshop in Hörsching tests and repairs the new Conrad troop radio as well as all PCs and their peripherals. Guido Pirklbauer, commander of the training workshop, covers a similarly broad range of tasks. All apprentices (“including saddlers, carpenters and mechatronics technicians”) complete a 6-week basic training course with him; the metal technicians even spend 20 weeks in the training workshop.
As part of a training partnership, Guido Pirklbauer also welcomes apprentices from E-Werke Wels and Silbergasser (Mercedes-Benz service partner) once a year; in return, army apprentices can gain external experience at the two companies. “This is very important,” says Colonel Kaser, “through this cooperation we can cover training content that we don’t have ourselves and further improve our qualifications.” And that – as Colonel Kaser emphasizes – is ultimately the top priority of the hour. “The challenge of the future will be to provide the same services with significantly fewer personnel as we currently do, and this against the backdrop of an imminent upgrade of the HLogZ Wels as part of the ÖBH 2018 structural package by taking on additional logistical functions in and beyond the region of Upper Austria.”
You can also read our short interview with mechatronics engineer Elisabeth Brandlmayr, who works in the tank workshop at the Army Logistics Center in Wels. Here to our other troop visits.
