Foreign truck makers face tight budgets.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

* International truck manufacturers are confronted by many of the same issues their U.S. counterparts encounter--tighter budgets and fewer contracts, said one expert.

"Your colleagues in acquisition and procurement, your colleagues in the armed forces and in the international market, they really have the same challenges that you do," said David Hiley, an analyst at Renaissance Strategic Advisors, a global aerospace and defense consultancy group.

"Budgets are, of course, typically much tighter in international markets," he said during a panel discussion at the National Defense Industrial Association's tactical wheeled vehicle conference.

While there isn't a homogenous international market, many countries want improved armor, lethality, protection, survivability, power efficiency and mobility. The weight of vehicles has become less important, as has air transportability, he said.

International customers--who are, like the United States, operating in times of constrained military budgets --will likely opt for smaller fleets of more expensive, sophisticated vehicles.

"There are going to be opportunities to compete ... [but] programs are going to be smaller [and] competitions a re going to be much harder," Hiley said.

However, he predicted that there would...