ABU DHABI – Seeing a ripe light tactical vehicle market in the Middle East, Humvee manufacturer AM General has designed a rolling commercial chassis that can be built up into tailored combat trucks in the customer’s own country.

Over the last year AM General surveyed all its existing customers in the Middle East about what they needed in a light tactical vehicle. From those meetings, the company learned one thing it already knew: that countries in the region want U.S.-made military hardware. The second lesson was new, AM General’s Director of International Business Integration Nguyen Trim told Defense Daily.

In recent years there has been a push by allies to not simply import military vehicles but to partner with U.S. original equipment manufacturers to establish domestic production and/or assembly facilities and jobs, he said.

“We brought that back and asked ourselves how do we want to address the arduous acquisition process,” he said.

The eventual answer was ground-up development of the 18,500 pound multi-purpose truck (MPT) made completely with modular- and commercial-off-the-shelf components. Leaning on its experience building more than 300,000 Humvees, the company built a fully functional concept vehicle – the one on display at the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) here – in 90 days.

Am General's Multi-Purpose Truck (MPT) on display at IDEX 2017. (Photo by Dan  Parsons)
Am General’s Multi-Purpose Truck (MPT) on display at IDEX 2017. (Photo by Dan Parsons)

The vehicle is also tailored to operate in high-heat, fine sand and high-altitude environments common to the Middle East. But the vehicle on display is only a concept to demonstrate the modularity of its new commercially available light tactical vehicle chassis.

“From the ground up, this was purpose-designed for this environment – anywhere in the Middle East,” he said.

AM General is restricted in what configurations it sells the Humvee and to what countries because the vehicle is controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. To buy a Humvee, a country has to navigate the lengthy and often sluggish foreign military sales (FMS) route.

“They can go through FMS. It’s time consuming but they’ll eventually get it,” he said. “When you do get it, it’s a great piece of kit. They can put some additional things on it, some local content…But we thought about how to make that process easier.”

AM General is selling the chassis and engine to countries that can then take on as much or as little of the body design and equipment integration as they wish, Trim said. Countries that have even modest domestic automotive production or steel fabrication can purchase the rolling chassis capable of being outfitted above the tires with 18,500 pounds in a range of configurations.

“We can help you design the body to your mission requirements,” Trim said. “We can help you not only design but integrate it. But then you have built that body in your country. You sourced the material in your country and we mate the two in your country.”

Another option would be for a country to buy a Ford or Chevrolet vehicle, strip it down and then repopulate it as a tactical vehicle. That requires extensive work to enhance the suspension to handle the added armor weight, among other costly retrofits.

“And at the end of the day, you still have a chassis that was designed for a commercial purpose,” Trim said.