The Pentagon just signed a $6.7 billion contract with OshKosh Trucks to manufacture 17,000 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) for use in combat. The JLTV would replace the 140,000 old and deadly Humvees fleet.
The change reflects the lessons that the U.S. Army learned in Middle Eastern operations where it lost lives and limbs of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, reports USA Today. The Humvee is said to be vulnerable to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) because of its light weight and flat bottom.
Roadside bombs killed a lot of American soldiers in 2007 in Iraq as the IEDs tore through the Humvees' thin bellies and tossed the riders skywards. The troops asked for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) trucks - which have raised chassis and V-shaped hulls that could deflect the IED blasts - but Pentagon then insisted on continued use of the Humvees.
On the other hand, the JLTVs would protect the soldiers like they are riding inside tanks and MRAP trucks, said Charles Szews, CEO of OshKosh Trucks. He says the JLTVs of OshKosh would have a 70 percent faster speed off-road compared to the Humvee and would be only 9,000 pounds or one-third lighter than an M-ATV, or an Mine Resistant-All-Terrain Version of the MRAP.
Since it is heavier than a Humvee, the JLTVs would protect the soldiers from IEDs, Szews says, by raising the crew compartment higher from the road which allows roadside bomb explosions to dissipate before it strikes the vehicle.
OshKosh won over the bids of Lockheed Martin, BAE and AM General which makes the Humvee. There is a chance that the military would hike the order to 55,000 JLTVs and increase the contract price to $30 billion.
As a result of winning the Pentagon bid, OskKosh, based in Wisconsin, said it would hire some engineers, procurement experts and operations staff in the coming years. However, it expects no hiring surge because employees who used to work on other military trucks that would be phased out would be transferred to the JLTV production, reports CNBC.