The Army is officially in the market for a new 20-ton heavy dump truck following the May 26 publication of a request for proposals to replace the M917 made by AM General.

Program officials had said the RFP for the M917A3 Heavy Dum Truck (HDT) would be released before June. Interested truck manufacturers must have submissions to the Army by July 25. While the program start remains on track, the Army’s fiscal 2018 budget document delays initial production from fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2020.

“The M917A3 primary mission is to support the full range of military operations. The Army requires units with dependable and deployable M917A3s that have reduced operations and support costs and increased operational effectiveness and readiness over existing systems,” the RFP says. “This is critical to support the Joint Forces as they conduct more operations in areas of the world with austere infrastructures and little or no host nation support. The M917A3 will be capable of supporting mobility, counter mobility, survivability and sustainment operations.”

An M917 20 Ton Dump Truck driven by soldiers of the 766th Engineer Company, 841st Engineer Battalion, U.S. Army Reserve, heads to a road improvement site at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria as part of Operation Resolute Castle 16, July 20, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Jose F. Lopez Jr., 841st Eng. Bn., United States Army Reserve)
An M917 20 Ton Dump Truck driven by soldiers of the 766th Engineer Company, 841st Engineer Battalion, U.S. Army Reserve, heads to a road improvement site at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria as part of Operation Resolute Castle 16, July 20, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Jose F. Lopez Jr., 841st Eng. Bn., United States Army Reserve)

The Army intends to award a seven-year – five-year base and two option years – firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. The minimum 7-Year quantity consists of the five test vehicles funded in order year one. Orders then increase in following years to six in order year two, 78 in the third year, 142 in the fourth year, 150 in order year five and finally 151 in the sixth year for a total of 683, according to the RFP.

Production projections outlined in the RFP do not match exactly with the HDT development schedule laid out in the Army’s fiscal 2018 budget submission, which lowers funding for that year to less than $1 million and delays production until 2020.

The Army allotted $3.9 million in fiscal year 2017 to get the program started with four prototypes that will undergo product verification testing. It requested only $967,000 in the fiscal 2018 budget submission to support product verification test and system engineering program management (SEPM). The Army doesn’t plan to buy any trucks that year or in fiscal 2019 when the projected budget increases to $10 million. Budget documents estimate each test vehicle will cost just shy of $1 million whereas the production vehicles are expected to be about $440,000 apiece.

Program projections include in the Army’s fiscal 2018 budget documentation show funding rising sharply in fiscal 2020, when the service will buy 67 trucks for around $30 million. It continues to increase in fiscal 2021 with $60 million and 141 trucks followed by another 141 units in fiscal 2022 costing an estimated $61 million.

The M917A3 22.5-ton heavy dump truck is a commercially based system used to load, transport, and dump payloads of sand and gravel aggregates, crushed rock, hot paving mixes, earth, clay, rubble, and large boulders at engineering and construction sites under worldwide climatic conditions in a military environment.

The new HDT will replace the F5070, M917 and M917A1 heavy trucks, of which the oldest have been in service for half a century, according to the Army. AM General, which famously built the Humvee, built the current fleet of M917 heavy trucks.

Commercial truck manufacturer Navistar [NAV] will propose a competing design. Mack Truck also is expected to compete in the program, according to industry sources. Another potential competitor is Oshkosh Defense [OSK], which currently builds the Army’s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) and family of medium tactical vehicles (FMTV).  

Contract award is scheduled for March 2018 with first delivery in September of the same year, according to Army budget documents.