Navistar Defense LLC [NAV] yesterday said it has submitted a bid to compete for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program.
The company will bid a variant of its International® Saratoga™ light tactical vehicle, which Navistar launched in October after conducting its own automotive and blast testing.
Leveraging Navistar’s commercial background, the Saratoga was originally designed to target a gap in the light tactical vehicle market. The vehicle’s flexible platform is derived from an integration strategy that allows the company to rapidly develop new vehicle variants to meet different customer needs while keeping investment costs low, the company said in a statement.
“We made a significant investment in developing the Saratoga on our own nickel because that’s what we do commercially–it is part of our DNA,” said Archie Massicotte, president, Navistar Defense. “The Saratoga is a solid design and now that we have seen the requirements of the JLTV migrate toward our vehicle capabilities, we are in a position to modify the Saratoga to fit those requirements.”
The Saratoga light tactical vehicle has a high degree of commonality with fielded vehicles and incorporates Navistar’s automotive and manufacturing expertise. The company has also designed and tested its own proprietary survivability solution for the vehicle, which considers material mix, vehicle structure and hull shape.
During the Technology Demonstration phase of the JLTV program, Navistar Defense was teamed with BAE Systems, which, with another team, has submitted a separate bid.