JLTV touted as success, but military not rushing to buy.

• Author: Machi, Vivienne
• Position: Viewpoint

A new armored truck designed to replace the Humvee is being praised as a model of procurement, but industry analysts and military officials say that the Army and Marine Corps are not buying joint light tactical vehicles fast enough to keep up with the services' needs.

"If there is any issue with the JLTV program currently, it's that the Army and Marine Corps are buying the trucks too slowly," said retired Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, who directs the Center for National Defense at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D. C.-based think tank.

The program so far has progressed smoothly as the vehicles undergo testing to meet stringent troop protection and off-road mobility requirements, according to Army officials. But the service plans to stretch JLTV procurement over decades, which Spoehr called "an inordinate amount of time."

"Given the fiscal environment and the success of the vehicle so far, the services could buy more at a faster rate and cut the program's timeline down even further," he said. "Typically when you buy things faster, you get a better price."

Army leaders have blamed a budget crunch for slowing down acquisitions of new vehicles like JLTV, and even if Congress agreed to boost Army funding as requested by the Trump administration, the top priority now is combat readiness. That means new programs can expect delays.

Service officials have said they would like to see vehicles purchased more quickly. Marine Corps Assistant Commandant Gen. Glenn Walters told the House Armed Services Committee at a hearing in February that the service is replacing its equipment too slowly.

"For eight or 10 years, we have modernization programs in place to replace our old equipment, but they're delivering over a 30-year timeframe. And we're buying them at a minimum level," he said.

"I have all kinds of needs for light tactical vehicles. They've been around for 20 years.... We're buying the joint light tactical vehicle at a very shallow rate," he added. "It will take us 20 years to get there."

The Army-led program to replace the high mobility multi-wheeled vehicle, or the Humvee, is on a trajectory to remain on budget and on schedule, said Army Col. Shane Fullmer, project manager for the joint program office under PEO combat support and combat service support.

The Army plans to acquire about 55,000 trucks by the mid-2030s that would replace both services' active-duty and reserve Humvee fleets. Two variants are planned: the four-seat combat tactical vehicle, which will support general purpose, heavy gun carrier and...