By Ann Roosevelt
The Army yesterday issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) Family of Vehicles (FOV).
JLTV is a Joint U.S. Army/Marine Corps program with the U.S. Army designated as the lead service.
“The RFP is an invitation for suppliers, through an open bidding process, to submit proposals for Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Family of Vehicles (JLTVs),” said Brig. Gen. John Bartley, program executive officer Combat Support & Combat Service Support (PEO CS & CSS), located at Warren, Mich.
Contractors have already signaled interest. Lockheed Martin [LMT] and BAE Systems have joined forces. AM General and General Dynamics [GD] have formed a team. Boeing [BA] and Textron Marine & Land Systems [TXT] also joined to compete. Last month, Northrop Grumman [NOC] and Oshkosh Truck Corp. [OSK] teamed to go after the contract (Defense Daily, Jan. 9). Navistar International Corp. [NAVZ] and BAEalso intend to compete for the program.
JLTV will consist of a family of vehicles (FoV) with companion trailers capable of performing multiple mission roles that will be designed to provide protected, sustained, networked mobility for personnel and payloads across the full Range of Military Operations (ROMO), the Army said in a statement.
Three contract awards are expected in July for the planned 27-month Technology Development Phase during which the JLTV prototypes will be developed and tested. A System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase beginning in 2011 is currently planned for the JLTV.
John Young, the assistant secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, reviewed JLTV in early December and gave his blessing to proceed with technology development in a Dec. 22 acquisition decision memorandum. Young urged the Army to allow three industry teams to compete on the program (Defense Daily, Jan. 22).
“JLTV will replace all the HMMWVs for the Marine Corps and will be the centerpiece of the light tactical wheeled vehicle fleet as part of the tactical mobility triad to maintain our expeditionary capability,” Lt. Col. Ben Garza, JLTV program manager for the Marine Corps at Quantico, Va., said.
“Commonality of capabilities will be the hallmark of JLTV, a future replacement for some portion of the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) for the Army, consisting of 10 sub-configurations in three different payload categories,” Bartley said.
The RFP is the result of more than two years of effort, including the work on the Army’s Future Tactical Truck System Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration and the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator, the Army statement said.
The JLTV will address capability gaps defined for the light forces, and rebalance “iron triangle” of payload, protection and performance, the service said.
JLTV provides a vehicle platform that will utilize, to the maximum degree possible, solutions and technology being developed in the Army’s Future Combat Systems program, the Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center, the Army Research Lab, and the Office of Naval Research as well as commercial industry advances. The JLTV FoV will be used by, but not limited to, the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force. Foreign governments have also expressed an interest in joining the development of the vehicles.
The JLTV will enhance light tactical mobility for combat arms, combat support, combat service support and long range reconnaissance forces by providing the following characteristics:
- Protection: Scalable armor to provide mission flexibility while protecting the force.
- Sustainment: Reliable, maintainable, maximum commonality across mission role variants, onboard and exportable power, and reduced fuel consumption while accounting for added armor protection.
- Networking: Connectivity for improved Battlespace Awareness (BA) and responsive, well-integrated Command and Control (C2) for embarked forces.
- Transportability: Transportable by a range of lift assets, including rotary wing aircraft, to support concepts across the Range of Military Operations (ROMO).
- Mobility: Maneuverability to enable operations across the spectrum of terrain, including urban areas.
- Commonality: Designed for commonality beyond major components, to include repair parts, tools, training, system design, maintenance procedures and sources of supply.
Once proposals are submitted, the government will convene an evaluation board comprised of subject matter experts from across the Defense Department to review the industry proposals.