as the 8+2 model. The RARS identified that the previous ammunition scales for the NATO 30-day battle would be completely used up in the 8+2 scenario. Furthermore, the change from 105mm (with a shell weighing 18 lbs) to 155mm (with a shell weighing 96 lbs) plus the huge quantities of bar mines created additional storage requirements with an emphasis on locating stocks forward to meet shorter warning scenarios. It became clear on trials in the late 1970s and early 1980s that the existing transport fleet operated by the Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) and forward principally by the Royal Artillery (RA) and the Royal Engineers (RE) was inadequate. Fix-bodied trucks loaded and unloaded by fork-lift trucks could not move fast enough. Depots were too cramped to outload at the pace required and stocks on the ground could not be moved sufficiently quickly to meet the predicted pace of battle. Productivity fell: instead of the two-to-three round trips a day envisaged often only one could be achieved with the remainder of the time spent queueing. Finally, the rail outloading system from the ammunition depots along the Rhine could not meet the challenge and railheads capable of providing sufficient space to offload trains using conventional materiel handling equipment were limited and vulnerable. A work study showed that a truck of large capacity, ideally built to ISO container 20 foot standard, that could load and offload its own body cut through all the delays and significantly improved mobility. In parallel materiel handling equipment (MHE) of special design could speed up rail loading and offloading by a considerable margin and work on a wider variety of sites in comparison with conventional materiel handling equipment such as the Eager Beaver forklift. This novel concept was agreed within the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in 1981 and let to two staff targets (GST 3920 for the vehicle and GST 3921 for the MHE) being passed to industry in August 1982. Procurement was novel in that tenders were requested for the whole system. It had also become apparent in early 1982 that RA and RE vehicles operating forward would require higher levels of mobility and the DROPS (improved medium mobility load carrier -IMMLC) was specified. Specification and procurement Leyland and Foden vehicles were fitted with MULTILIFT loading equipment that were selected from designs submitted to the Ministry of Defence by a wide cross-section of the UK engineering industry.