By Ann Roosevelt
General Tactical Vehicles (GTV), comprised of General Dynamics [GD] and AM General; a Lockheed Martin [LMT]-BAE Systems team; and a BAE Systems-Navistar International Corp. [NAVZ], will take the next step in the potential $40 billion development of the Army-Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV).
The three teams were chosen of seven competitors that included Northrop Grumman [NOC]-Oshkosh Corp.[OSK] and Plasan; Force Protection [FRPT] and Finmeccanica SpA’s DRS Technologies [DRS]; Textron [TXT] teamed with Boeing [BA] and SAIC [SAI]; and Raytheon [RTN] and Blackwater Worldwide.
GTV was awarded a $45 million cost share contract for the JLTV family of vehicles technology development phase.
“The GTV solution meets or exceeds the JLTV protection, payload and performance requirements, offering a low-risk, innovative, adaptable family of vehicles and trailers with commonality of components exceeding 95 percent, resulting in speed to production and low life-cycle cost,” Don Howe, GTV senior program director, said in a statement.
The Lockheed Martin-BAE team was awarded a $35.9 million cost-plus fixed fee contract for the JLTV technology development phase of work.
The BAE Systems-Navistar International Corp. team was awarded a $40.4 million cost share contract for JLTV technology development.
The JLTV is a joint Army/Marine Corps and U.S. Special Operations Command program with the Army designated as the lead service, expected in 10 sub-configurations and in three different payload categories. It aims to address capability gaps for the light forces and rebalance protection, payload and performance.
For the Marines, the vehicles will eventually replace all Humvees as part of the effort to maintain expeditionary capability.
For the Army, common capabilities will be the hallmark of the vehicles, which will replace some portion of the service’s Humvees.
JLTV will consist of a family of vehicles (FoV) with companion trailers capable of performing multiple mission roles that will be designed to provide protected, sustained, networked mobility for personnel and payloads across the full Range of Military Operations, the Army said in a statement.
The contracts were initially expected in July for the technology development phase. In December 2007, an acquisition decision memorandum gave the program the green light, as John Young, assistant secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, urged the Army to allow three industry teams to compete on the program (Defense Daily, Jan. 22).
In the request for proposals issued in February 2007, JLTV was expected to be able to meet certain characteristics such as protection, sustainment, networking, transportability, mobility and commonality (Defense Daily, Feb. 26).
JLTV provides a vehicle platform that will utilize, to the maximum degree possible, solutions and technology being developed in the Army’s Future Combat Systems program, the Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center, the Army Research Lab, and the Office of Naval Research as well as commercial industry advances. The JLTV FoV will be used by, but not limited to, the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.