Marine Corps Releases More Details on Utility Vehicle Phase Out.

* The Marine Corps is slated to replace its utility task vehicle with a new ultra light tactical platform in the next two years, according to an official.

The first generation of the small, all-terrain trucks will be phased out in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 as they come to the end of their five-year service lives, said Jennifer Moore, program manager for light tactical vehicles at Marine Corps Systems Command's logistics combat element systems office.

The Marines have 248 utility task vehicles--which are manufactured by Polaris Government and Defense of Medina, Minnesota. They are mostly intended to help lighten troops' loads, but are also used for reconnaissance missions, she said.

However, the UTV is completely maintained by contractors, which is not ideal for the expeditionary environments that Marines operate in, she said during a tactical wheeled vehicles webinar hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association.

Polaris will deliver more than 500 of the new ultra light tactical vehicles, which feature better maintainability between fiscal years 2022 to 2025, according to the service.

"The Marines need to be able to take care of their own vehicle where they are," Moore said. They will travel with all the spare parts needed, she added.

The move to a more sustainable supply chain will allow Marines to maintain their vehicles is in support of the Marine Corps' Force Design 2030--a...