Oshkosh [OSK], a maker of armored military vehicles, is demonstrating its integrated network for C4 systems on all-terrain vehicles such as the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle at the Association of the U.S. Army exposition in Washington this week.
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| Oshkosh’s JLTV offering. Photo by Oshkosh |
Oshkosh said the integrated approach allows the installing of the C4 and weapons capability during the production of the vehicles to help avoid potential system conflicts while eliminating the costs associated with the tearing of a vehicle apart and reassembly that is required to install the systems after production.
“Oshkosh’s ‘first pass’ systems integration approach optimizes the overall vehicle and C4 package design to deliver a fully integrated solution that puts the network at the soldiers’ fingertips to support their missions,” said John Urias, executive vice president of Oshkosh Corporation and president of Oshkosh Defense.
“This integrated approach, which we utilized for our JLTV EMD vehicles, offers greater value for our military customer, a more ergonomic design for the soldier and enables rapid fielding of vehicles with integrated C4ISR suites,” he added.
Oshkosh is one of three firms, including Lockheed Martin [LMT] and AM General, competing for the Army and Marine Corps’ Joint Light Tactical Vehicle [JLTV] program, which is intended to replace the HUMVEEs. All three companies submitted a group of vehicles to the government last summer for testing and evaluation as part of the competition.
The 22 JLTV prototypes Oshkosh handed over included the integrated C4 configuration as well as multiple JLTV mission package configurations, the company said. Oshkosh began installing the wiring required for C4 integration in the MRAPs when they were developed under an urgent need for the war in Afghanistan and production rates were at 1,000 monthly.