NASHVILLE, Tenn. – While the Army no longer plans to buy new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV), a senior official confirmed Wednesday the Marine Corps can still purchase the platform under the current contract in place with AM General
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“We will do no future procurement buys for the JLTV for the Army. But the Marine Corps, [international] partners…they can continue to do that. But for us, inside of our armor, heavy and Stryker formations, we bought enough [JLTVs] already or the ones that are coming off [the production line] to serve those formations,” Gen. James Mingus, the Army vice chief of staff, told reporters following remarks at the Army Aviation Association of America’s annual conference here.
The Army on May 1 detailed its new Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) which includes cutting “obsolete” programs such as the JLTV as well as Humvees, the M10 Booker combat vehicle, the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter and Gray Eagle drones and ending development of the Improved Turbine Engine Program, the Future Tactical UAS and the Robotic Combat Vehicle (Defense Daily, May 1).
The JLTV cancellation is a major pivot for the Army after the service awarded AM General a potential 10-year, multi-billion dollar deal just over two years ago to build the new JLTV A2 and take over as prime contractor from Oshkosh Defense [OSK]. AM General has said it remained on track to support the Army’s plan to begin fielding the JLTV A2 in mid-2026 (Defense Daily, Feb. 9 2023).
The Army in May 2023 placed an initial delivery order with AM General covering 271 JLTV A2s for the Army and 206 vehicles for the Marine Corps (Defense Daily, May 25 2023).
Mingus noted to reporters the JLTV A2 deal with AM General is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with vehicles bought in tranches, which will allow the Marine Corps to “absolutely” still purchase the platform even if the Army no longer places orders.
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, raised a concern at a hearing last week on whether the Army had coordinated its JLTV cancellation decision with the Marine Corps.
“Where you might see this as a money savings [decision], the Marines might need them and we might see the Marines’ cost per vehicle shoot through the roof,” McCollum said.
AM General has said it plans to continue both the JLTV A2 and Humvee production lines for now to fulfill remaining contract obligations, noting it still has multi-year contracts in place with a “backlog of deliveries” for both vehicles through 2027 (Defense Daily, May 12).