Department of Defense contract to manufacture the JLTV awarded to Oshkosh

Oshkosh won the Pentagon’s $30 billion sweepstakes to replace the U.S. Army’s Humvee with up to 55,000 new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, or JTLVs, over the next 25 years, service officials said.

Oshkosh beat out a team made up of Lockheed Martin Corp and Britain’s BAE Systems Plc, as well as AM General, a privately held company that built the original Humvees, the sources said.

JLTV manufacturing will be performed in Oshkosh, WI with deliveries beginning 10 months after award. “It is reassuring to know that JLTV will protect our service members-including the many who call Arkansas home-no matter where it is produced”.

Thousands of the hulking MRAP vehicles were subsequently scrapped, mothballed or handed down to local police departments because the military never intended them to be a permanent part of the tactical wheeled vehicle fleet. The company topped defense contractors Lockheed Martin Corp. and AM General LLC in the bidding and vehicle evaluation process that included hundreds of thousands of miles of testing.

The company has built more than 50 JLTVs at the site already, and was confident it could meet the planned production goals with just a single shift of workers.

“Oshkosh is honored to be selected for the JLTV production contract, which builds upon our 90-year history of producing tactical wheeled vehicles for U.S. military operations at home and overseas”, Oshkosh Corp. The Marine Corps would begin its buy at the start of production and finish in fiscal 2022. “Initial USMC operating capability is expected in Fiscal Year 2018 with fielding to Marine Corps complete in FY2022”, read a statement from the U.S. Army.

Charlie Szews, chief executive of Oshkosh, told Reuters last week he was upbeat about his company’s vehicle, which he said would offer the government exactly what it wanted: “the most vehicle they can get for under $250,000 in FY11 dollars”. Though the Humvee has evolved several times over the years, the heavily armored MRAP came to dominance in Iraq and Afghanistan to offer better protection from improvised bombs.