AM General takes over from Oshkosh in building JLTV armored combat vehicle and VICTORY-based vetronics
WARREN, Mich. – Armored combat vehicle experts at AM General LLC in South Bend, Ind., will build the U.S. Army's Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) family under terms of a $230.9 million contract announced on Thursday.
AM General takes over production of the JLTV from Oshkosh Defense LLC in Oshkosh, Wis., which is replacing the venerable High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). Oshkosh has been building the JLTV since 2015 when Oshkosh prevailed over rivals AM General and Lockheed Martin Corp. for the potential $50 billion JLTV program to replace the High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV).
Oshkosh has built nearly 19,000 JLTVs for the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy as well as armies in Montenegro, Brazil, Slovenia and Lithuania. The contract to AM General, with options, could total $8.66 billion.
The Army JLTV contract to AM General — which lost to Oshkosh in the original 2015 competition to build JLTV — a requirements contract with five base years plus five one-year optional ordering periods to provide 20,682 JLTVs and 9,8333 trailers for the joint force as well as foreign customers.
The JLTV is a VICTORY-compliant light utility and combat multi-role vehicle that is expected to deliver a level of protection similar to that of current, but far heavier and less maneuverable, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) class designs, and much better than the latest armored HMMWV combat vehicles.
The JLTV features a vetronics architecture that complies with the Army's VICTORY electronics standard. VICTORY stands for Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/EW Interoperability. C4ISR/EW stands for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance/electronic warfare.
The JLTV's VICTORY-compliant modular, scalable, open-architecture vetronics is designed to support rapidly evolving C4ISR suites. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that the DOD will spend more than $53.3 billion on the JLTV program -- $1.1 billion for research and at least $52.3 billion for procurement.
The JLTV has two variants -- a two seat and a four seat variant, as well as a companion trailer (JLTV-T). The vehicle offers the Core1080 crew protection for survivability, turret operated systems, remote weapons systems, and tube-launched missile system.
The JLTV features an intelligent independent suspension system that adjusts ride-height type with as much as 20 inches of wheel travel. The vehicle also has the digitally controlled General Motors Duramax V8 cylinder 6.6-liter diesel engine.
The vehicle can accommodate light, medium, and heavy machine guns, automatic grenade launchers, smoke grenade launchers, or anti-tank missiles, operated from ring mounts or a remote weapon station.
On this order will do the work in South Bend, Ind., and should be finished by February 2033. For more information contact AM General online at www.amgeneral.com, or the Army Contracting Command-Detroit Arsenal at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-dta/.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
