Smaller trucks seen as lucrative business in U.S. and abroad.

• Author: Parsons, Dan

Riding a wave of special operations successes and the expectation that funding will flow toward elite forces in the future, vehicle manufacturers are staking millions of dollars on bids to supply those shadowy warriors with new trucks.

Industry is equally focused on other big-ticket procurement programs like the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle sought by the Army and Marine Corps. In a constrained budget environment, however, smaller, less expensive trucks are seen as one of the best chances to land military contracts both in the United States and abroad.

Special Operations Command put out a call nearly two years ago for a vehicle that met its particular specifications--namely that it be a modified version of an off-the-shelf design and be transportable inside a CH-47 helicopter for quick insertion and extraction.

Nearly every major truck manufacturer jumped on board the Ground Mobility Vehicle (GMV) 1.1 program. A total 121 companies responded to the initial request for information, including providers of everything from sensor suites to weapons.

With a final request for proposals expected before the end of March, the competition has also inspired truck manufacturers to preempt an official solicitation by designing and building prototypes on their own dime. Defense industry heavy hitters have poured millions of research-and-development dollars into their designs in anticipation of a market boom--domestically and abroad--in tactical vehicles for rapidly deployable forces.

"We do see the increased need for ever greater protected mobility in ever smaller, lightweight, transportable configurations," John Bryant, vice president and general manager of joint and Marine Corps programs for Oshkosh Defense, told National Defense. "People think we make big trucks and we do, but we also provide protected mobility in light tactical vehicles, and they're available right now."

Considering that Special Operations Command wants to purchase up to 1,300 GMVs, the program is an enticing opportunity for companies that see few large vehicle contracts coming from a cash-strapped Pentagon.

The market for bigger trucks is expected to wane, especially with the U.S. exit from Iraq and the impending end of the war in Afghanistan. A report released in September by the Government Accountability Office found that overall Pentagon spending on tactical wheeled vehicles will plummet in coming years. The report took into account purchases of vehicles at or above the weight of...