AM General to build new JLTV A2 armored combat vehicles with updated vetronics and power-distribution system
WARREN, Mich. – Armored combat vehicles designers at AM General LLC in South Bend, Ind., will build new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) A2 systems and vetronics under terms of a $4.65 billion five-year contract announced last week.
Officials of the U.S. Army Contracting Command in Warren, Mich., are asking AM General to build new JLTV A2s for the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.
AM General took over production of the JLTV last February from Oshkosh Defense LLC in Oshkosh, Wis. The JLTV is replacing the venerable High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV).
AM General has a five-year contract, with another five-year option, with the Army to build the A2 version of the JLTV. AM General could build as many as 20,682 JLTV A2s and 9,883 JLTV A2 trailers for a total contract value of about $8.7 billion.
The AM General JLTV A2s remains mostly unchanged from the Oshkosh JLTV, yet has a new Banks Power V8 turbodiesel engine and alternator, reconfigured rear cargo space, and a revised electrical architecture with lithium-ion batteries to run communication equipment, heating and cooling, and to operate in place silently for short periods.
A new power-distribution system will sense a drop in battery level, and then turn on the engine to re-charge the batteries. The A2 vehicle will not move on battery power.
Oshkosh had been building the JLTV since 2015 when the company 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).
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.
Related: Wanted: companies to build vetronics computers for armored 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 JLTV has two variants -- a two seat and a four seat variant, as well as a companion trailer (JLTV-T). The vehicle offers turret operated systems, remote weapons systems, and tube-launched missile system.
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 contract AM General will do the work at locations to be determined with each order, and should be finished by February 2028. 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/#:~:text=The%20Army%20Contracting%20Command%20-%20Detroit,Cycle%20Management%20Command%20(LCMC).
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.
