Oshkosh Defense is expanding the mission capabilities of the Army’s Humvee replacement, boosting the armored truck’s lethality with two new heavily armed variants.
The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) is designed to take over many of the mission roles of the legacy Humvee. The Army initially planned to purchase about 50,000 of the bomb-resistant trucks to perform troop transport and command-and-control.
A primary requirement for JLTV was that Oshkosh Defense build in power and payload margin so the vehicle could accept new sensors and weapons that would allow it to perform a wider range of missions. The Army already has tagged JLTV as its new light reconnaissance vehicle (LRV) instead of purchasing a new platform.
“The Oshkosh JLTV is engineered to support a wide range of mission kits and weapon systems required for the modern battlefield,” said John Bryant, senior vice president of Oshkosh Corp. [OSK] and President of Oshkosh Defense, said in a statement. “Our JLTV will replace existing light tactical vehicles with a platform that is flexible, scalable, and customizable for specific missions outside the wire. We are proud to be demonstrating this JLTV capability.” Oshkosh Defense is an operating segment of Oshkosh.
Oshkosh is displaying two new variants of JLTV at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) annual expo in Washington, D.C. A third JLTV on display at the show is equipped with an active protection system (APS), which the Army is working to integrate onto all of its ground combat systems.
The JLTV General Purpose vehicle is equipped with a Boeing [BA] Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS), a Kongsberg Protector LW 30 Remote Weapon System (RWS) with a M230LF 30mm cannon, and a communications suite that includes a Thales VRC-111 and Thales VRC-121 VIPER.
The JLTV Utility vehicle is equipped with the Boeing Maneuver Short Range Air Defense Launcher including a M3P .50 cal machine gun, M299 launcher with four Longbow Hellfire missiles, sensor suite, and a communications suite including a Thales VRC-111.
Another general-purpose JLTV is equipped with Rafael‘s Samson dual-stabilized remote weapon systems (RWS) with M230 LF, and the Trophy Light active protection system. Trophy Light is a smaller version of the guided-missile shield system the Army plans to mount on its Abrams tanks.
Meanwhile, the JLTV program continues to hum through low-rate initial production, according to Dave Dierson, vice president and general manager of joint programs for Oshkosh Defense. The company has delivered 600 vehicles so far and continues to ramp up production, he said.
“The JLTV program continues to be run as a model program,” said Diersen. “Working closely with our government customer, we have completed Reliability Qualification Testing, accumulating over 100,000 miles and exceeding reliability requirements. We are very pleased with program progress and look forward to a successful Full Rate Production decision in Fiscal Year 2019.”