US Army - JLTV Program

[kscarbel2]

US Army Orders Oshkosh to Resumes JLTV Work

Defense Update / December 16, 2015

Lockheed Martin said it is planning to file a new protest to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by December 17th. Oshkosh is expected to begin production under the Army’s orders and wait for the Federal Claims Court decision.

The U.S. Army instructed the Oshkosh Corporation to resume work on the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) following the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision to dismiss Lockheed Martin’s protest yesterday. The protest against the Army’s selection of Oshkosh for the $6.7 billion contract was filed September 8, 2015 forced the army to stop work on the program until the GAO’s decision.

The GAO announced its decision after Lockheed Martin’s notice that it intends to file another protest in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by December 17th. Therefore, Oshkosh is expected to begin production under the Army’s orders and wait for the Federal Claims Court decision.

According to the JLTV production contract, Oshkosh will begin delivering vehicles within the next 10 months, reaching an expected total volume of nearly 17,000 vehicles, as well as kits and sustainment services over an eight-year period. The release, even if temporary, means that Oshkosh can now proceed with orders to subcontractor, previously prevented by the Army’s the stop work order.

“We are pleased that the JLTV production contract, awarded to Oshkosh in August, is now moving forward to deliver the world’s most capable light tactical vehicle,” said U.S. Army Major General (Retired) John M. Urias, executive vice president of Oshkosh Corporation and president of Oshkosh Defense. The JLTV program fills a critical capability gap for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps by replacing a large portion of the legacy HMMWV fleet with a light vehicle that provides unprecedented protection, off-road mobility and transportability.

Related reading - http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/41515-oshkosh-wins-675-billion-deal-to-replace-us-army-marine-humvees/?hl=jltv

[kscarbel2]

Bloomberg / December 17, 2015

The No. 1 U.S. defense contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., is going to court to fight a government decision awarding a $6.75 billion deal to replace the U.S. Army’s Humvee combat vehicle to a company that ranked No. 99 last year.

The Army plans to buy about 55,000 of the multipurpose vehicles for its troops and the Marine Corps through 2040, spending an estimated $30 billion. Oshkosh Corp. in August was awarded the initial order for about 17,000 vehicles, which are more heavily armored than the Humvees they’ll replace.

“After careful consideration of all options, Lockheed Martin decided to file a complaint with the Court of Federal Claims concerning our Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) contract award process,” that company said in an e-mailed statement announcing its lawsuit. “We look forward to working with all parties involved on the next steps.”

Its complaint was filed under seal Wednesday, according to court records. Lockheed said in an accompanying filing that some proprietary information was inappropriate for public release. The court will ultimately decide how much of the complaint, and legal proceedings in the case, should remain confidential.

A hearing is scheduled for Friday before Judge Charles Lettow.

The government’s answer is due by Feb. 16. Michael Clow, an Army spokesman, declined to comment on the complaint.

Oshkosh Vice President John Urias said in a statement that he had confidence in the Army’s procurement process, which he said included “exhaustive testing and evaluation to ensure our troops get the best vehicle.”

Urias also said he believed the federal court will uphold the Army’s selection of the Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based company.

“We firmly believe we offered the most capable and affordable solution for the program,” Lockheed said in September, when it lodged its original protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Absent Documents

Lockheed opted to abandon the GAO proceedings after learning that “a substantial number of documents directly related to the competition” weren’t provided to it or to the agency until late in that process, it said in a Dec. 15 statement.

The agency declined to extend its 100-day deadline for ruling on the dispute and couldn’t consider the new information, according to Lockheed. The GAO then rejected Lockheed’s protest, citing the company’s filing of a notice of intent to sue.

The case is Lockheed Martin Corp. v. USA, 15-cv-01536, U.S. Court of Federal Claims (Washington).

[kscarbel2]

Court Clears Oshkosh to Continue JLTV work

Defense Update / February 14, 2016

A federal judge on Thursday denied Lockheed Martin’s motion that could have forced Oshkosh Corp. to stop working on a $6.7 billion military contract while a lawsuit over that contract award continues. Lockheed had challenged the military’s late-August decision to award Oshkosh Corp.

Lockheed Martin’s lawsuite compelled Oshkosh Corp. to stop building JLTVs, while its lawsuit challenging the military’s decision to award Oshkosh that contract moves forward. Lettow’s order rejecting the injunction is sealed.

This means that Oshkosh Corp. can keep working on its JLTV contract, which could net the company more than $30 billion over the next 25 years.

Meanwhile, Lockheed’s legal challenge to the government’s contract award continues.

Lockheed in its motion to halt work argued that the military applied different standards to the two companies when evaluating the contract and held ‘misleading’ meetings with the company about the bid.

Related reading - http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/43150-us-army-orders-oshkosh-to-resumes-jltv-work/?hl=jltv

[kscarbel2]

Army begins testing new Oshkosh JLTV at Aberdeen Proving Ground

The Baltimore Sun  /  November 7, 2016

The cab of the military truck still had that new-car smell.

The Army, working on the successor to the long-serving Humvee to carry troops to fight around the world, is testing the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Col. Morris Bodrick, commander of the Aberdeen Test Center, said Monday the JLTV will be tested for performance and reliability over the next year on the 50-odd miles of test track that wind around the Army installation in Harford County.

The Humvee became an icon of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but it proved vulnerable in Afghanistan and Iraq to roadside bombs.

Efforts to imrpove the vehicle's armor — adding metal plates to protect the troops inside — left it over-burdened. So in the midst of the conflicts, the Army rushed to field a heavier bomb-resistant truck while also planning for the Humvee's ultimate replacement.

Several companies competed to build the trucks; the different versions were also tested at Aberdeen. Wisconsin-based Oshkosh beat Lockheed Martin and AM General, which makes the Humvee, for the $6.7 billion contract to build the first group.

A formal protest by Lockheed set the program back, but Oshkosh turned over seven JLTVs to the Army and Marine Corps in late September and delivered another 10 in October. The team at Aberdeen Proving Ground has five of the vehicles; others are going to be put through their paces at facilities in Arizona and Alaska.

The Army and Marines plan to buy some 55,000 JLTVs over the next two decades. The testing data gathered at Aberdeen and the other facilities will help the military make decisions about the future of the program.

The name Humvee is a kind of abbreviation of the cumbersome High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle. No similarly catchy moniker has emerged for the JLTV.

Several versions of the new truck are planned. The one on show at Aberdeen Proving Ground on Monday was a two-door model that will likely serve as a transport vehicle. Others will carry weapons systems, including missiles that could be used to take on tanks or destroy bunkers.

The JLTV's top speed of about 70 mph will let troops quickly close on enemies, and its advanced suspension system means it can travel across very rough terrain.

Maj. Jason McPhee, an official with the office that is developing the JLTV, said the ride across one particularly bumpy test track was so smooth he could have drunk a cup of coffee.

The JLTV is large by the standards of a civilian car, with tires that reached up to Bodrick's waist as he stood next to it. It's bigger even than a Humvee. But it is much smaller than the Army's most heavily armored trucks while still affording its passengers as much protection, officials say.

McPhee said the designers of the new truck aimed to take lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Oshkosh had already tested out some of the concepts on the armored Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicle.

Those large trucks provided troops with good protection from bomb blasts, McPhee said, but couldn't be easily transported by helicopter or on amphibious landing ships.

Humvees, meanwhile, struggled under the weight of the extra armor loaded onto them.

The Army parked the three vehicles next to one another Monday to make the point.

"We started to up-armor that Humvee, but once we started to up-armor that vehicle we started to trade away its payload and its mobility," McPhee said.

The MATV and other mine-resistant vehicles were quickly developed as an answer — some of the work took place at Aberdeen Proving Ground — but they brought their own problems.

"That program rapidly responded and provided protection immediately to the soldiers and Marines on the battlefield, saved a lot of lives along the way," McPhee said. "But when we made that investment we traded away transportability and mobility. We're talking about very heavy vehicles."

The JLTV is designed to find the sweet spot.

"It's going to try to find the perfect balance of performance, protection and payload," McPhee said.

VIDEO - http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-new-army-vehicle-testing-20161107-story.html

[kscarbel2]

JLTV makes strides, Oshkosh receives USD195 million order

IHS Jane's Defence Weekly  /  August 2, 2017

Oshkosh yesterday announced an order for 748 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) worth more than US$195 million.

It marks the fifth order to date and includes “2,359 installed and packaged kits”.

The JLTV contract for low-rate initial production (LRIP) of 16,901 vehicles was awarded to Oshkosh on 24 August 2015.

The White House’s fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018) budget request for JLTV is up approximately US$366 million compared with the US$775.8 million enacted in FY 2017 for the program.

In FY 2018, the request includes funding for 2,110 vehicles for the US Army, 527 for the US Marine Corps (USMC), and 140 for the US Air Force.

.

[kscarbel2]

 

[kscarbel2]

U.S. Army Places $484 Million Order for 1,574 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles

Oshkosh Defense  /  June 30, 2018

Oshkosh Defense announced today that the U.S. Army has placed a $484 million order for 1,574 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) and associated installed and packaged kits.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180629005807/en/

“This latest order follows the completion of the Multiservice Operational Test and Evaluation (MOT&E) conducted by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps and further demonstrates that the JLTV program continues to be a top modernization priority for our armed services,” said George Mansfield, Vice President and General Manager of Joint Programs at Oshkosh Defense. “The JLTV is ready to support our troops, and we look forward to getting more soldiers and Marines into this extremely mobile, protected, and proven next-generation light tactical vehicle.”

In addition to the recently completed operational testing, the JLTV also completed Reliability Qualification Testing earlier this year, accumulating over 100,000 miles and exceeding reliability requirements.

To date, Oshkosh has produced more than 2,000 JLTVs and has delivered more than 1,600 JLTVs to the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. A Full Rate Production (FRP) decision is expected in FY19.

[kscarbel2]

JLTV deemed ‘not operationally suitable’ in a GAO report

Defense Blog  /  May 12, 2019

The new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, commonly known as JLTV, has been again deemed “not operationally suitable”, the Government Accountability Office said in its annual survey of Defense Department acquisitions.

The JLTV program is intended to replace the Army and Corp’s legacy fleet of High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) for some missions.

The JLTV is expected to provide protection for passengers against current and future battlefield threats, increased payload capacity, and improved automotive performance over the up-armored HMMWV variant, which includes an armor package. It is designed to be transported by air or ship. Two- and four-seat variants are planned with multiple mission configurations.

“The JLTV program has matured its two critical technologies and stabilized the system design. However, the program’s discovery of significant deficiencies during operational testing—and the corrections that those now require—pose risk to maintaining that design stability,” the Government Accounting Office said this week in a report on major weapons systems.

In report noted that during low-rate initial production, Oshkosh significantly reduced the number of defects per manufactured vehicle, from 14.6 in September 2016 to 1.3 in September 2018.

Program officials also stated that Oshkosh has provided on-time deliveries for 6 consecutive months and is now producing vehicles 2 months ahead of schedule at a rate of about 11 per day.

The program is also utilizing statistical process controls to demonstrate ongoing JLTV production readiness.

“The Army and Marine Corps recently concluded operational testing for JLTV and found the vehicles to be survivable for the crew and effective for small combat and transport missions,” the GAO said in its 17th annual survey of defense acquisitions and pointing that: “but not operationally suitable because of their high maintenance needs, low reliability, training and manual deficiencies, and safety shortcomings.”

The Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, made the same findings as the Army and Marine Corps. Army operational testers recommended a conditional release to full-rate production for most of the vehicle variants, pending resolution of all suitability related deficiencies.

Marine Corps operational testers, however, found the JLTV could support their mission and advocated for the program’s unconditional transition into full-rate production. However, the Army delayed the full-rate decision from December 2018 to May 2019 to review new potential requirements.

.

[kscarbel2]

An expensive truck that, high on profit but low on elementary substance, doesn't hold up. The American taxpayer is duped again.

[kscarbel2]

U.S. Army approves JLTV program’s transition into Full-Rate Production

Defense Blog  /  June 22, 2019

The U.S. Army has announced on Friday that Dr. Bruce Jette, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, approved the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program’s transition into Full-Rate Production yesterday.

The JLTV is a family of vehicles developed to replace the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) for some missions. The JLTV is expected to provide protection for passengers against current and future battlefield threats, increased payload capacity, and improved automotive performance over the up-armored HMMWV variant, which includes an armor package. It is designed to be transported by air or ship. Two- and four-seat variants are planned with multiple mission configurations.

According to a statement released by the Program Executive Office for Combat Support & Combat Service Support, the approval follows an Army decision in December 2018 to begin fielding the new platform with the Army’s 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Georgia, in April. The 1-3 ID became the Army’s first unit equipped with JLTVs in April 2019, after receiving more than 300 vehicles.

Fieldings to the Ordnance School, Fort Lee, Virginia, the 84th Training Command, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, the Marine Corps’ School of Infantry-West at Camp Pendleton, California, as well as the School of Infantry-East, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, have also been completed.

“Thanks to tremendous teamwork across two services on requirements, resources, program management, testing, and other areas, this is a great modernization success story. JLTV shows how teams focused on stable requirements, mature technologies and the right incentives can deliver meaningful capability advancements in a cost-conscious way,” said Jeffrey White, Jette’s principal deputy.

The JLTV family of vehicles is designed to restore payload and performance that were traded from light tactical vehicles to add protection in recent conflict, giving commanders an improved protected mobility solution and the first vehicle purpose-built for modern battlefield networks.

“Getting an improved capability into the hands of Soldiers and Marines has been our team’s driving focus throughout this program, said Michael Sprang, Project Manager, Joint Program Office, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles. They are why we do what we do, and I’m so proud of the hard-working team that brought us to this point.

“We are also grateful for Soldier feedback on new features and enhancements,” he continued. “The Soldiers of the 1st ABCT, 3rd Infantry Division provided valuable input on enhancements such as increased situational awareness, reduction of system noise, a troop seat kit, and a companion JLTV trailer. Their assessments helped bring us all to a successful Full-Rate Production decision.”

The JLTV program remains on schedule and on budget to replace a significant portion of the Army’s High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle fleet. The JLTV comes in two variants and four mission package configurations: General Purpose, Close Combat Weapons Carrier, Heavy Guns Carrier, and a Utility vehicle. The U.S. Navy and Air Force also plan to field JLTVs in much smaller quantities.

.