By Geoff Fein and Jen DiMascio
Northrop Grumman [NOC] and Oshkosh Truck Corp. [OSK] yesterday said they are partnering to compete for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program.
Additionally, the long awaited JLTV request for proposal (RFP) is expected to be released on or about Feb. 1, according to the Army.
If selected for the JLTV Technology Demonstration program, Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems sector will be the prime contractor and systems integrator. Oshkosh Truck’s Defense Group will be responsible for designing, engineering and manufacturing the vehicle, according to a statement from the companies.
Northrop Grumman and Oshkosh had been talking for a year or more, Steve Zink, vice president, defense business, Oshkosh Truck Corp., told Defense Daily yesterday. It is the first partnernig and teaming of this magnitude between the two companies, he added.
“We have worked with Northrop Grumman on various programs but to say we have partnered and teamed, I don’t believe that has occurred,” Zink noted.
“We are very excited about the partnership, primarily because of the complementary nature of the capabilities of the two companies,” he noted. “There is virtually no overlap with regard to our capabilities, and when you look at Oshkosh and our platform capabilities and Northrop Grumman with first of all their presence in the defense industry as well as their capabilities in communications systems…this really becomes a solid team to respond to those emerging requirements for the Army and Marine Corps.”
The two companies developed a relationship, and working through the stages of the teaming and partnership, the agreement just seemed right, he added.
“We’ve been talking to Northrop Grumman for close to a year, if not over a year, with regard to their C4ISR (command, control, computers, communication, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) capability…the command and control, blue force tracking, net centric capability…and with their capabilities on the communications side and our capabilities on the military wheeled vehicle platform…the tactical vehicle side, it is the right partnership at the right time,” Zink said.
Oshkosh displayed a concept vehicle at last October’s Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, D.C.
“At AUSA’s fall show, we had a concept vehicle of the utility variant and that is a starting point,” Zink said. “Our concept and our design will continue to evolve as we gain further information on the requirements and obviously the final configuration is going to be shaped around the requirements that come through the purchase description.”
Oshkosh was also one of five companies selected by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in 2006, to perform a trade study and build a mock-up for use in defining a common set of requirements for the JLTV program.
“The purpose of that contract with ONR was to help frame and shape the requirements as we expect them to be coming out in the February RFP release,” Zink added. “So to the extent that they have taken that information and used that to shape the requirements, that will put us in a good position to respond.”
The four companies selected by ONR included: AM General, BAE Systems, Cadillac Gage [TXT], and General Dynamics [GD].
Northrop Grumman wasn’t initially interested in vying for a truck contract.
“That wasn’t our core,” Joe Taylor, vice president of ground combat systems for Northrop Grumman, told Defense Daily Tuesday. “But the more the joint community has weighed in on this, the more it looks like a true integrated combat platform. It’s something we’re very eager to participate in.”
Northrop Grumman will draw on Oshkosh’s experience in the vehicle arena, while tapping into its expertise in vehicle communications and looking for innovations in a number of areas, he said.
The company currently provides the Army with Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade and Below, the Command and Control Personal Computer for the Marine Corps and the Joint Battle Command-Platform for both services.
That expertise is something the company hopes will bridge a gap for the Army’s current fleet of vehicles and the small portion of the force that in the future will have Future Combat Systems (FCS).
“The army is going to go through decades of transition,” Taylor said. “To have a vehicle like this that can be configured and allow those forces to interoperable with each other is a dialogue we want to have with the Army.”
Northrop’s sales pitch also includes the ability to bring an innovative power design to the vehicle. The idea is to provide excess power with the long-term potential to use on weapon systems, advanced sensor systems or a tactical maneuverable force protection system, Taylor said.
As a key provider perimeter security, Northrop Grumman wants to discuss the possibility of mounting that on a vehicle for a mobile system.
In addition, Taylor said the company wants to draw on its ship systems work with composite materials.
The lesson of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles was that while it’s possible to build a truck big and heavy enough to withstand an explosive blast, “it becomes a land ship,” Taylor said.
The eventual winner of the JLTV contract will have to be innovative enough to build a vehicle that carry out the most mundane tasks while being reconfigured with add-on protection for any kind of mission.
Any ground vehicle needs to balance three key factors — payload, performance and protection.
A company with enough price-competitive composites, may be able to produce savings, Taylor said.
“That kind of thinking beyond steel is important if you’re going to meet this Iron Triangle,” of payload, performance and protection, he said.
The teaming agreement between Northrop Grumman and Oshkosh is the fourth such partnership between defense firms and vehicle manufacturers in the past two years.
In October 2006, Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Armor Holdings (now a part of BAE) announced they were teaming for the JLTV effort. Three months later, AM General and General Dynamics, two of the United States military’s leading suppliers of military vehicles, said they would form a partnership to pursue the JLTV. And in October ’07, Boeing [BA] and Textron Marine & Land Systems [TXT] said they would be joining up for the JLTV effort.
JLTV is expected to provide the Army and Marine Corps with a family of vehicles with improved survivability and greater payloads than AM General’s Humvee. It will consist of five mission role variants: combat tactical, command and control, utility, light infantry squad carrier, and reconnaissance. The vehicle family will also include compatible trailers.
The design will include a basic armor protection package as well as provisions to accommodate an additional add-on armor kit. JLTV will be networked enabled, provide power for all on-board electronic components with the engine on and during extended silent watch, and export power to outside systems (Defense Daily, Sept. 6, 2006).
The Department of Defense early on projected a need for some 40,000 JLTV in the first increment, though the figures are not final nor approved (Defense Daily, Sept. 4).
Since then, the program was directed to go back to Milestone A by John Young, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, after a program review (Defense Daily, Oct. 9).
“On December 5, 2007 JLTV successfully completed its Milestone A Defense Acquisition Board review and received approval to enter the Technology Development phase as a pre-Major Defense Acquisition program,” according to the Army.