The Army has decided to forgo buying a separate vehicle and instead use a variant of the Oshkosh [OSK] Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) to fulfill its requirement for a small, speedy truck that can be transported by a CH-47 Chinook helicopter.
A JLTV outfitted with sensors and with beefed-up offensive firepower will serve as the Army’s new Light Reconnaissance Vehicle (LRV), according to Maj. Gen. Robert “Bo” Dyess, deputy director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center. Dyess made the announcement May 11 at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Conference outside Washington, D.C.
Oshkosh confirmed the Army’s decision in an email to Defense Daily on Thursday, saying it had designed the Humvee replacement as a “highly modular, light vehicle package that is CH-47 transportable and can be configured for many different types of missions.
Photo:Oshkosh Defense
“Oshkosh designed the JLTV to seamlessly integrate a full range of mission packages to serve both current and future needs – recognizing that our Army and Marine Corps customers must plan for future operations with many unknowns,” John Bryant, senior vice president of Defense Programs at Oshkosh Defense, said in a prepared statement. “The firepower and C4ISR equipment required for LRV will easily integrate into the JLTV platform.”
The Army’s decision ensures commonality among its future tactical vehicle fleet, which will make the fleet’s logistical tail more efficient and save on lifecycle maintenance costs. On the other hand, the same Oshkosh vehicle will perform double duty without the promise of increased production orders, which means that a larger number of thin-skinned Humvees will remain operational in combat roles longer than currently planned, according to an industry source.
LRV was envisioned as a light tactical truck that could carry six battle-ready soldiers. It would enhance the mobility of a basic infantry brigade combat team with a commercially available or slightly modified, off-the-shelf or modified government-owned vehicle, according to the Army’s original request for information released in July 2014.
The Army wanted a vehicle that could carry weapons and armor capable of engaging and destroying hardened enemy positions, light armored vehicles, machine guns and snipers. A major consideration was modularity and commonality with the Army’s existing fleet of tactical vehicles.
The ideal LRV can detect, destroy and survive multiple threats including other light vehicles, attacks from dismounted personnel and chemical and nuclear threats “while sustaining minimal damage to the soldier,” the RFI says. The service also wanted a longer range than the standard Humvee M1025 and have silent watch, C4ISRT, blast protection, day/night and degraded-mode mobility and offensive capabilities in complex terrain.
The announcement is bad news for several truck companies who already had pitched their wares to the Army in a operational performance demonstration last August at Fort Benning, Ga. Companies that drove LRV offerings in that demo included Polaris, Navistar, Vyper Adamas, Northrop Grumman [NOC] and Rheinmettal.
Dyess said the JLTV would be a temporary, interim LRV solution. The first production models are scheduled to roll off the Oshkosh line in late summer.