Special Operations Command Targets Vehicle Upgrades.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

NORFOLK, Va.--New vehicle upgrade opportunities are available for industry seeking to work with Special Operations Command. "We have a pretty unique fleet out here in SOCOM that kind of touches different programs," said Marine Corps Lt. Col. Alfredo Romero, program manager for Special Operations Command's family of special ops vehicles.

The command's inventory includes joint light tactical vehicles, purpose-built non-standard commercial platforms, light tactical all-terrain systems, ground mobility vehicles and more. There are platforms currently in concept, production and sustainment stages, Romero said during the National Defense Industrial Association's annual Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Conference in Norfolk, Virginia.

One vehicle in the concept stage includes the purpose-built non-standard commercial vehicle, which is being pursued through an other transaction authority prototyping effort, Romero said.

"The idea of this vehicle platform was to build a vehicle from the ground up on the chassis, with the ability to change out the skins," he said. The command is designing the platform to have an extended service life with the ability to traverse longer distances.

Special Operations Command has recently completed some tests with the vehicle and is currently waiting for the results to come in before making its next move, Romero said.

Meanwhile, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV--which is being developed through a joint program office for the Army and Marine Corps--is another project in the concept stage. The platform is a service-common vehicle being provided to SOCOM components, Romero said. In fiscal year 2023, the command will begin applying special operations forces-specific modifications.

Part of Special Operations Command's acquisition strategy is to leverage platforms from the services, he said.

Whatever the Army and Marine Corps provides is "good enough for SOF," Romero said.

The command then applies SOFpeculiar modifications to the platforms which offers users greater flexibility, he added.

Upcoming milestones include a SOF command, control, communications, computers, cyber and intelligence, or C5I, integration kit which will be tested in fiscal year 2022, according to slides shown during Romero's presentation.

The JLTV will be one of SOCOM's newer vehicles and will be a workhorse in the fleet, he said.

The command is also pursuing a hybrid-electric ground mobility vehicle 1.1 system. A prototype platform is expected to be...