After unveiling the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) A2 last week, AM General has said it’s on track to present the first eight vehicles to the Army in July 2024 before moving into production the following month.
Bob Putnam, AM General’s JLTV program executive director, told Defense Daily the new A2 version of the platform features around 200 engineering changes, with the company working over the next year on refining upgrades during the manufacturing ramp-up process and ahead of testing with initial vehicles.
“We want to make sure that we’re going to hit the delivery schedule that we’re going to provide this vehicle to the Army and Marine Corps on time and on target,” Putnam said during an interview at last week’s Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, D.C. “We want to make sure we’re successful with the launch. That’s our number one focus. It was a privilege for us to win the program. But our focus is, over the next year, launching the vehicle. Then, it will go through a series of tests. And once those tests are concluded, then there will be a huge material release to the Army and Marine Corps. And, at that same time, we’ll be able to start fielding [Foreign Military Sale]-type business.”
AM General in February beat out incumbent manufacturer Oshkosh Defense [OSK] for the 10-year JLTV re-compete production contract, which may cover delivery of up to 20,682 vehicles and up to 9,883 JLTV Trailers, with the latter company having built the vehicles since 2015 (Defense Daily, Feb. 9).
The Army in May then awarded AM General an initial $196.9 million order covering 271 JLTVs for the Army and 206 vehicles for the Marine Corps (Defense Daily, May 25).
“As soon as we won the contract in February [the Army] said, “Congratulations, you won and here’s 200 changes we want to make to the vehicle,” Putnam said.
Putnam noted the engineering changes for JLTV A2 include upgrades from the contract requirements as well as vehicle upgrades AM General has pursued based on feedback gathered on the JLTV program to date.
“We wanted the vehicles as they come off the line to look like an AM General vehicle,” Putnam said, noting the JLTV A2 on display at the AUSA conference featured a new front grill and hood design compared to the earlier Oshkosh-Defense built vehicle. “This is a prototype, but we are going through and working with the customer to make sure that we can get those engineering change proposals approved for vehicle number one.”
AM General has previously noted the engineering changes associated with the JLTV A2 model include an updated powertrain and alternator, increased fuel efficiency, improved corrosion protection, a simplified electrical architecture featuring a lithium-ion battery, a new base line integration kit to allow for more cargo storage space and design changes to reduce vehicle noise.
“Some of the feedback that came from the warfighter was they did not have enough storage on the vehicle. So we designed the back so that it could have more storage of package kits, for ammo, for [Meals Ready-To-Eat], everything that the soldier’s going to need for the fight,” Putnam said. “A lot of the feedback was just that the vehicle was too noisy inside, so we changed the inside of the cab relative to some insulation to keep that noise from getting inside the cab and there’s also a new alternator which keeps the noise down.”
Putnam said AM General offered a “30-year [corrosion] protection guarantee on almost 150 very specific automotive loading parts” with JLTV A2, and noted it replaced the previous version of the vehicle’s two lead acid batteries with one lithium ion battery.
The Army has cited lithium ion battery technology as a key enabler for anti-idle capability on JLTV moving forward, which the service is pursuing to help reduce fuel consumption and inform the interest in potential vehicle electrification (Defense Daily, March 4 2022).
Putnam confirmed there will be potential opportunities to retrofit existing JLTVs in the fleet with the AM General-designed A2 engineering changes.
“Our responsibility is going to be to support the [JLTV] family of vehicles. And that’s not just the A2 vehicle, but it’ll also be the A1 and A0 vehicles. So, yes, we’ll be willing and able to take on all that responsibility,” Putnam said.
Jim Cannon, CEO of AM General, told Defense Daily in early March that the company was “well into execution” in moving toward JLTV A2 production and is planning to build the platform in “some very non-traditional ways” (Defense Daily, March 2).
“We had to expand some footprint in Mishawaka, [Indiana]. We had to expand some aftermarket locations as well. We had to get an interim storage facility. We had to build a [systems integration lab] so we can do all the proper testing. [That’s] all on schedule, which is fantastic,” Putnam said last week.