The three contractor teams bidding for the Army and Marine Corps’ Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program submitted their proposals in time for Tuesday’s deadline.
The Lockheed Martin [LMT]-BAE Systems team’s offering includes a Cummins [CMI] 4.5-litre, 4-cylinder engine that the team says provides greater displacement than many V6 engines, while generating superior fuel efficiency. The offering’s drive train is supported by an Allison [ALSN] 6-speed transmission. It also features what the team calls an innovative Power Generation Exportable power solution instead of an alternator, providing up to 15kW today and potentially as much as 75kW in the future.
Photo: Oshkosh Defense
Lockheed Martin Vice President of Ground Vehicles Scott Greene said Tuesday in a statement the Lockheed Martin-BAE team designed its offering from scratch and purposely designed a vehicle to meet, or exceed, the requirements, rather than taking an existing vehicle and “force-fitting” it into requirements.
Oshkosh Defense touted its established tactical wheel vehicle (TWV) production line in a press release announcing its bid submission. The company said it completed the Defense Department’s production readiness review (PRR) for the JLTV engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) contract in November, which Oshkosh Defense says demonstrates it is ready to manufacture JLTVs. The company also cited a history of delivering tactical wheeled vehicles (TWV) on schedule and on budget.
AM General is offering its Blast Resistant Vehicle-Off Road (BRV-O) as its JLTV solution. Company spokesman Jeff Adams cited BRV-O’s crew capsule and modular armor successfully completing, and in some instances, exceeding, requirements for force protection in blast tests. AM General said in a Tuesday statement if BRV-O’s armor is damaged in future combat situations, its separate components can be readily replaced while remaining in the area of operation. The company believes this will dramatically improve readiness and further reduce BRV-O’s efficient and low lifecycle support cost profile.
JLTV, a joint Army-Marine Corps program, is intended to replace the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), the current light tactical vehicle. JLTV will provide defensive measures to protect troops while in transport, increase payload capability and achieve commonality of parts and components to reduce the overall lifecycle cost of the vehicle.
The JLTV contract award is expected in July. DoD requested $457 million in fiscal year 2016 for JLTV, enough to procure a total low-rate initial production (LRIP) buy of 559 vehicles: 450 for the Army and 109 for the Marine Corps. The Army, on behalf of itself and the Marine Corps, will select a winner and issue a single contract award.
The winning contractor will build about 17,000 JLTVs for the two services throughout three years of LRIP and five years of full-rate production (FRP). The first Army unit would be equipped with vehicles by FY ’18 (Defense Daily, Feb. 3).
Oshkosh Defense is a division of Oshkosh [OSK].