The Lockheed Martin version of the Army-Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) is being built, and the company is on track for delivering the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) vehicles, a company official said.
Lockheed Martin, AM General and Oshkosh Corp. [OSK]are competing on the program, and all successfully completed government reviews in December (Defense Daily, Jan. 18). The three companies received EMD contracts in August 2012.
“In Sealy, (Texas) we’ve assembled and built the first three vehicles, they’re on the test track and at the end of the summer all 22” vehicles will be delivered under the EMD contract, Frank St. John, vice president of Tactical Missiles and Combat Maneuver Systems, said yesterday during a company media day.
BAE Systems partners with Lockheed Martin in the effort, and the JLTV vehicles are being built on the military-vehicle production line there.
“There have been no surprises on the factory line,” St. John said. In part that is due to the company’s historic strength in the missile and aircraft world where simulation-based design is the norm. Extending that into manufacturing and with increased fidelity in models, ensures vehicles are produced as designed.
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| Prototype JLTV Courtesy Lockheed Martin |
The company already has driven a prototype JLTV thousands of kilometers as part of risk reduction efforts that sees the vehicle running 12-15 hours a day building data, he said.
Lockheed Martin also has done some ballistic testing at both threshold and objective levels, and has shown there’s a safety margin against both those levels that will improve soldier survivability.
The design directs the shock of the blast out to the sides of the vehicle, making it safer for the soldiers inside, St. John said.