DALLAS, Texas, 18 Jan. 2013. Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] family of Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) has completed a top-to-bottom government design review. The first engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) JLTVs will begin rolling off the assembly line this spring.
The design understanding review assessed all elements of Lockheed Martin’s JLTV design and confirmed its overall maturity and requirements compliance.
In refining its EMD design, the Lockheed Martin team optimized a JLTV model that had already passed government testing. The production-enhanced JLTV maintains the force protection, transportability and reliability of the earlier technology demonstration model, while reducing weight and cost. Lockheed Martin’s JLTV design reflects improvements from more than 160,000 combined testing miles.
The JLTV family of vehicles is designed to replace and supplement the existing fleet of Army and Marine Corps Humvees. Compared to existing vehicles, JLTV will provide improved crew protection, lower logistical support costs, superior fuel efficiency and higher connectivity with other platforms and systems. Government tests show the Lockheed Martin design equals the blast-protection standards of mine-resistant vehicles serving in combat today.
In August 2012, Lockheed Martin received a $65 million contract from the Army and Marine Corps to continue developing its JLTV design through the EMD phase. Assembly of the first EMD JLTVs is under way at BAE Systems’ military-vehicle manufacturing plant in Sealy, Texas.
