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Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV)

The Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) was developed by American Company Oshkosh Defence for the US Army and Marine Corps, to replace the aging fleet of High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV/Humvee). The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) family now consists of three base vehicle platforms, Utility (M1279 JLTV-UTL), Close Combat Weapons Carrier (M1281 JLTV-CCWC) and General Purpose (M1280 JLTV-GP). The Utility base vehicle platform is a two-door configuration, the General Purpose and Close Combat Weapons Carrier base vehicle platforms are a four-door configuration.

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 20 June 2019. 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.

The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) family of vehicles is designed to restore payload and performance that were traded from light tactical vehicles to add protection in recent conflict. JLTVs will give Soldiers, Marines, and their commanders more options in a protected mobility solution that is also the first vehicle purpose-built for modern battlefield networks. The new trucks represent a significant modernization success for the Army and Marine Corps, with the program on track to replace many venerable High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV).

Soldiers are getting their hands on the Army's new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs), with the first unit receiving the trucks in early 2019. These deliveries keep the program right on schedule, following an Army Systems Acquisition Review Council decision last week to move forward with fielding JLTVs to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. The unit, located at Fort Stewart, Ga., will start receiving its own JLTVs in January 2019, and should be fully equipped with about 500 new JLTVs by the end of March 2019.

"The JLTV program exemplifies the benefit of strong ties between the warfighter and acquisition communities," said Dr. Bruce Jette, the assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology. "With continuous feedback from the user, our program office is able to reach the right balance of technological advancements that will provide vastly improved capability, survivability, networking power, and maneuverability."

On 25 August 2015, the US Army awarded the Oshkosh Corporation located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, a firm fixed price production contract for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program. The total contract value, including all options was $6,749,799,374.25. JLTV was an Army-led, joint acquisition program with the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) intended to close an existing gap in each Services' light tactical vehicle fleet. The Army selected the Oshkosh Corporation from 3 competing firms participating in the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase, which began in 2012 and concluded earlier this year. Each vendor delivered 22 prototype vehicles as part of JLTV development, which were utilized as part of an intensive, 14-month competitive test.

Lockheed filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in August 2015 after the Army awarded the first 17,000 of a projected 55,000 Joint Light Tactical Vehicle fleet manufacturing contract to Oshkosh. The GAO dismissed the protest, citing the defense firm’s decision to mount a challenge in court. Lockheed Martin on 16 December 2015 filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon over its handling of a $6.75 billion contract awarded to Oshkosh Corp. for replacement of its Humvee fleet.

At that time, Low Rate Initial Production was slated to begin in the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2016. The Army and Marine Corps planned to procure approximately 17,000 vehicles under the initial contract, with a decision on full rate production by the Department expected in FY18. Procurement of 5,500 USMC vehicles were front-loaded into the JLTV production plan. Initial USMC operating capability was expected in Fiscal Year 2018 with fielding to Marine Corps complete in FY2022. The Army anticipated having its first unit equipped in FY2018. Army procurement would last until approximately 2040 and replace a significant portion of the Army's legacy light tactical vehicle fleet with 49,099 new vehicles. JLTV manufacturing would be performed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin with deliveries beginning 10 months after award. JLTV remained a priority modernization effort for the Army and USMC.

The plan was for Oshkosh Corporation to build 17,000 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV), which will replace the Humvees. However, over the time, the military services plan to replace a total of 55,000 vehicles, which could see the value of the contract rise to over $30 billion.

Oshkosh say their JLTV will be a significant improvement. At first glance, it looks almost like a tank on wheels, complete with its very own gun turret. It will have amour like a tank, but weight two thirds less than the Humvee. It will also be fleet-footed like a jeep, but capable of carrying large amounts of cargo across all sorts of terrain. The first JLTV’s are expected to be deployed in 2018.

Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) is a joint service, multinational program for a family of light tactical vehicles and companion trailers. JLTV was a central component of the Department of Defense's tactical wheeled vehicle strategy, intended to enhance the military services' mix of tactical vehicles by providing a balanced vehicle solution (focusing on the so-called three p's of performance, payload and protection) with increased transportability and expeditionary mobility.

The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle family of vehicles (JLTV) program was developed in response to an operational need to replace the aging High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) fleet. The mission of the Program Manager JLTV was to jointly develop, produce, field and sustain a safe, reliable, suitable, and effective family of vehicles. The JLTV would restore or exceed the original HMMWV mobility and payload capabilities, maintain most of its transportability capabilities, while raising its survivability and protection capabilities and improving its sustainability.

JLTV was developed to restore transportability and overcome the existing imbalance in protection, payload and performance found in the existing tactical vehicle fleet. Modernizing the tactical vehicle fleet with the JLTV was determined to be necessary to provide protected, sustained, and networked mobility for Army and Marine Corps personnel and equipment on the modern battlefield. The JLTV would be transportable via rotary wing assets at Essential Combat Configuration and sealift on height restricted decks. The vehicles were also to feature a commonality beyond major components, to include repair parts, tool, training, system design, maintenance procedures and source of supply.

The JLTV family of vehicles included 10 configurations and companion trailers in 3 payload categories. Commonality of components, maintenance procedures, and training between all variants was expected minimize total ownership costs. Payload Category A was 3,500 pounds, Payload Category B was 4,000-4,500 pounds, and Payload Category C was 5,100 pounds. Payload Category A was not expected to require a companion trailer to meet the requirements. The ability to utilize the companion trailers and other modular componnents with all configurations would allow the JLTV to be rapidly reconfigurable. During the Engineering Manufacturing and Development phase, the Category B configuration was removed, with the Category A configuration becoming known also as the Combat Tactical Vehicle, and the Category C configuration becoming known also as the Combat Support Vehicle. The Combat Tactical Vehicle configuration for the JLTV should not be confused with the vehicle program of the same name initiated by the USMC in 2005.

The JLTV family of vehicles was to provide a design that supports mobility, reliability and maintainability within the given weight limits to ensure transportability to and from the battlefield. JLTV would use scalable armor solutions, as part of the Long Term Armor Strategy (LTAS) to meet requirements for added protection while maintaining load carrying capacity.

Senior Marine Corps, Army and Department of Defense leadership got a hands-on look at the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle during a demonstration on Marine Corps Base Quantico between 3 and 14 June 2013. JLTV prototypes from 3 vendors were on display and road tested at the Transportation Demonstration Support Area, a nearly 400-acre site managed by the Marine Corps Program Executive Officer Land Systems. At that time, the next milestone for the JLTV program was expected in mid-August 2013, when each competitor would turn over 22 JLTV prototypes for rigorous testing.




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