The US Army Counter, Rocket, Artillery & Mortar (C-RAM) system is now slated to go through a much needed upgrade:

The new Mobile Centurion is mounted on the U.S. Army’s HEMTT (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck). Also known as the M-977, these vehicles have a diesel electric drive, thus there is plenty juice for the radar and electric motors of the Centurion system. The 8×8 HEMTT trucks are built for cross country operations and were able to keep up with armored formations during the 1991 and 2003 wars. Most of the 13,000 army HEMTT’s normally haul ten tons of cargo or 2500 gallons of fuel. A Phalanx system weighs six tons. The HEMTT began to enter service in the late 1980s, and cost about $200,000 each (depending on special equipment and configuration.) Starting four years ago, the HEMTT fleet began a refurbishment program (at about half their original cost) to give the trucks another ten years of life. This included development of a version that used the diesel-electric drive.  [Strategy Page]

For those not familiar with the C-RAM program it is a system that is able to protect US military facilities in Iraq from indirect fire attacks by using the Mobile Centurion system pictured above to shoot down the incoming rounds.  Here is a slide that provides a good time line of the system’s history:

Currently the system is based on a flat bed which effects the systems mobility.  By placing the system on a HEMTT this greatly increases the systems mobility and keeps all the needed parts of the C-RAM on one vehicle as well.

For those that don’t know, here is what one of the M-977 HEMTT trucks looks like:

There are multiple forms of HEMTT trucks available with the most common version pictured above.  I would assume the version of the HEMTT that would make the most sense for the C-RAM program would be the PLS (Palletized Load System) version where the pallet on the back of the truck through hydraulics can be placed on the ground:

By placing the C-RAM on this version of the HEMTT it would allow the system to not only be highly mobile but also quickly emplaced because no downloading is required.  Everything would be on the pallet.