Oshkosh Defense [OSK] has designed a new light combat tactical all-terrain vehicle (L-ATV) that uses proven advanced technology and is geared toward future military requirements, a senior company official said.
“We have a vehicle that’s ready now, it’s built, it’s been tested, it’s got technologies that are proven that are at high readiness rate,” said Ken Juergens, vice president and general manager of Joint Programs for Oshkosh Defense.
Oshkosh Corp. produces heavy and medium Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles as well as the MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) and is leveraging a decade’s worth of operational experience with the vehicles in Afghanistan and Iraq for L-ATV.
“For us it was a natural evolution to say we manufacture all the heavy [vehicles], all the mediums [vehicles] for the services, and we make the most MRAPs, so it kind of made sense that we would, after the (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle) JLTV downselect, to continue building on to that platform,” Juergens said.
Oshkosh Defense teamed with Northrop Grumman [NOC] on the JLTV competition, which has see-sawed back and forth between termination and revitalization. This past summer, the Army and Marines agreed on requirements and are looking at a new acquisition strategy for Humvee recap and JLTV. Meanwhile, Senate Appropriators recommend killing the program.
L-ATV takes advantage of the next-generation TAK-4i™ independent suspension system, and can be configured with Pro-Pulse diesel electric and scalable armor.
“We spent over $60 million on this one platform, and it would be a Humvee replacement that we’d be looking for, or at least in that category, which is why we came up with the L-ATV,” Juergens said.
The design benefitted from the M-ATV design, in protection, mobility, and human factors engineering.
Part of our evolution also was the light combat tactical vehicle, the diesel electric vehicle that competed and completed the SCORE Baja 1000 off road race. The LCTV was the world’s first armored military vehicle to successfully endure the extreme terrain in the November race.
“That tested our new generation TAK 4i –that is an incredible suspension system,” Juergens said “We also demonstrated technology maturity of the hybrid diesel electric Pro-Pulse technology.”
Pro-Pulse significantly increases fuel economy and can export power. It also is on HEMTT A3, and just completing Army testing.
“All those lessons learned along with M-ATV came to fruition on the L-ATV. We’ve been testing the L-ATV, we’ve got over 26,000 test miles that we’ve done on it,” he said. “Our feeling is we weren’t designing this just for JLTV–and we don’t know which way that program is going.”
Oshkosh did want to have that type program in that type of weight class, for any customer with the need.
Oshkosh designed a system that doesn’t have to reduce capability to meet a price point, he said. “We think we can meet the same price point with better capability. One of the important things with this is for the services not to accept lower performance for cheaper price.”
There is potential for the L-ATV in the international market, Juergens said, which is why the company right now is not tying itself to any one program.
“Once people get in the ride it’s a fabulous ride–better than the M-ATV and it provides terrific mobility and ride comfort, that’s critical reducing crew fatigue,” he said. “Some senior officers who’ve driven it, say it’s almost like driving your car but you’re driving it in a tactical environment.”
For Oshkosh, the tactical vehicle is not complicated to do. “We’re self-contained our own engineering, our own testing our own manufacturing we’re a one stop shop,” Juergens said.