Oshkosh Defense [OSK] offers improvements for the Army and National Guard Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV).
Unveiled at the AUSA Winter Symposium Feb. 23-25 in Florida, the FMTV Enhanced Protection & Mobility Demonstrator (EPMD) prototype vehicle uses the Oshkosh TAK-4® independent suspension system and a custom-fitted Oshkosh Underbody Improvement Kit (UIK) for previously unrealized levels of protection and mobility.
“We’re drawing on two Oshkosh Defense core competencies–survivability and off-road mobility–to give the FMTV platform improved capabilities on the battlefield against evolving threats and severe terrain,” said Mike Ivy, vice president and general manager of Army Programs for Oshkosh Defense. “Oshkosh has had great success delivering a high-quality FMTV fleet for our customer at a reduced cost. These upgrades build on that success and give soldiers a better protected, more mobile family of vehicles.”
The Army said it plans to make its last funding request for $374 million for the vehicle in the recently released fiscal year 2013 president’s budget (Defense Daily, Feb. 14). If Congress agrees, the Army said it could save more than $1 billion.
The FMTV EPMD uses an Oshkosh-designed UIK to provide protection beyond the platform’s Long-Term Armor Strategy-compliant armor suite. Oshkosh is in the process of delivering more than 8,000 MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) UIKs, which are protecting Warfighters in Afghanistan today, as well as more than 400 UIKs for the Army’s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) A4. Oshkosh UIKs are designed for light, medium, heavy and MRAP vehicles in the ongoing battle against increasingly dangerous IEDs and roadside bombs.
Oshkosh said that to date it has conducted more than 6,000 miles of independent durability testing on the FMTV EPMD’s subsystems to prove their maturity and readiness for the battlefield.