As part of the Army/Marine Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program, the Defense Department and the Australian Department of Defence have entered into a Land Force Capability Modernization (LFCM) Project Arrangement (PA) for JLTV.
The PA, effective Jan. 21, will develop and document a harmonized JLTV program through cooperative risk reduction, experiments and demonstrations, modeling and simulation, testing, and data collection.
The project should result in an enhanced JLTV program and allow for continued cooperation in the JLTV program development, the government said in a statement Feb. 26.
“Today’s announcement by the Army sets in motion a long-awaited and important project agreement between the U.S. and Australian armed forces,” said Kevin Fahey, Army Program Executive Officer for Combat Support and Combat Service Support (PEO CS & CSS). “This agreement will enable tactical vehicle interoperability and integration between U.S. future forces and Australian land forces, ultimately reducing cost, schedule and performance risk to the JLTV program for both nations.”
International participation in the JLTV program will reduce overall program risk through the testing and evaluation of additional prototype vehicles, he said. As our military prepares for future coalition operations, similarity of tactical vehicle solutions across allies will enhance global interoperability and reduce the maintenance and logistical burden.
“The JLTV program has set the framework and opened the door for the Australian Defence Force to address armed forces to jointly and simultaneously address similar problems surrounding the tactical vehicle imbalance,” said Brigadier Roderick J.S. West, Australian Army Attaché to the U.S. “The Australian Defence Force looks forward to working with the U.S. as we address JLTV’s need to balance critical weight and transportability restrictions within performance, protection and payload requirements.”
The project agreement states the U.S. and Australia will jointly acquire 30 prototype vehicles: 21 funded by the U.S. and nine funded by Australia. The additional nine prototype vehicles funded by Australia–three vehicles from each contractor across the three JLTV payload categories–will feature right-hand drive and will enable the Services to collect additional data to reduce risk in all vehicle categories.