By Emelie Rutherford
The Marine Corps’ top officer voiced concerns yesterday about the developmental Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) and said the service as an alternative is testing a Humvee modified with a raised V-shaped bottom.
While the Marine Corps and Army have intended for the JLTV to replace the services’ vast Humvee fleets, Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway told Pentagon reporters the prototype JLTVs developed by three firms thus far are too heavy for his expeditionary service.
Because the desired high-tech light materials for the JLTVs have not yet been developed, he said, the prototype vehicles are now in the range of 22,000 pounds when loaded for combat. That’s too heavy for Marine Corps transport by helicopter and some ships.
“We ask ourselves, is that the vehicle that we need to be buying,” the four-star general said during a media roundtable.
As to whether the Marine Corps will pursue a “bridge” vehicle until the JLTV is further developed–an idea Assistant Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos cited last week– Conway said: “We’re looking at it.” (Defense Daily, Dec. 11)
“We’re looking at a capability…that would elevate that Humvee so it’s not flat-bottomed and it’s well above the ground compared to what it is now,” the commandant said. “Now it’s eight to 10 inches. We need something two or three times that for blast mitigation, with a V-shaped bottom that would have a protective compartment for the crew.”
He said multiple manufacturers have told the Marine Corps that they can retrofit Humvees in such a way for a cost that is one-tenth that of a new vehicle.
“So if we can come up with something that will give us that capacity for, I don’t know, a few years, then we’re going to look at it, until the joint, truly Joint Light Tactical Vehicle comes along,” Conway said.
The Marine Corps is in the process of blast-testing one such modified Humvee, he said, declining to name the manufacturer. Amos told lawmakers last week about a rejiggered Humvee from a “North Carolina” outfit.
Conway said the blast-testing of the vehicle his service has is intended “to see what’s the comparison between that and the figures that we now have on some of the JLTVs, that we now have on the M-ATVs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicles).”
Three companies are under contract to build competing JLTV prototypes: BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin [LMT], and a General Dynamics [GD]-AM General joint venture called General Tactical Vehicles.
The Marine Corps commandant noted his service has “tens of thousands up up-armored Humvees out there,” suggesting at least some of them could be used for this newfangled type of vehicle.
“Now are we going to give them to Iraqis and the Afghanistan (people), or push some over the side on the way home,” he said, adding that “probably wouldn’t be wise to do that.”
Conway blamed the current state of the developmental JLTVs on technology not being developed yet.
“The Joint Light Tactical vehicle was dependent upon technology to give us composite or plastic armor or something that would be light and yet serve the same purpose as steel,” he said. “Well, it just hasn’t happened, and the experts will tell you that’s still five years out.”
Conway reiterated his oft-stated concern that the Marine Corps has been serving as a “second land Army” that has too-heavy equipment and is not expeditionary enough.
He called for “shucking some of this weight that we’ve picked up” and becoming more closely aligned with the Navy.