Tactical Vehicles: RECOMPETE FOR JLTV OFFERS COVETED PRIZE FOR VEHICLE MAKERS.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

More than six years after Oshkosh Defense was awarded a mega contract to build the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle for the Army and Marine Corps, and with few new military vehicle programs on the horizon, the Defense Department is poised to reignite a fierce industry competition for the next version of the JLTV.

When Oshkosh won the hotly contested and lucrative contract--which was initially worth some $6.7 billion--for the first iteration of the platform in 2015, it sent shockwaves across the military vehicle market. Oshkosh at the time was not the military vehicle juggernaut it is now, and the outcome had major ramifications for Humvee manufacturer AM General.

The JLTV--which is replacing portions of the Army and Marine Corps' Humvee fleet--was designed to balance mobility and protection, as well as achieve the "iron triangle" of payload, protection and performance.

It is expected that Oshkosh Defense, Navistar Defense, AM General and GM Defense will vie for the next phase of the program.

The JLTV joint program office--which is procuring platforms for both the Army and Marine Corps--was slated to release a request for proposals for a follow-up version of the vehicle by the end of January, said Michael Sprang, program manager for the JPO. A contract award is expected in September.

The RFP will be a culmination of years of work, Sprang told National Defense.

"When we first looked at the competitive market for JLTV, what we didn't want to do was just to [use]... lowest-price, technically acceptable" as the metric, he said. "We engaged with industry early and we've engaged with them often."

In August 2019, the JPO asked industry for information as it conducted market research and eight -companies responded, he noted. Based on those responses, the, office crafted an acquisition strategy for the follow-on vehicle and allowed industry to lease Joint Light Tactical Vehicles from Oshkosh.

"When you think about the JLTV, there's obviously an incumbent but we wanted the opportunity for other companies to be able to understand the JLTV," he said. Three companies leased vehicles.

According to George Mansfield, vice president and general majoager of joint programs at Oshkosh Defense, those companies included GM Defense, Navistar and AM General.

The JPO has since released multiple draft requests for proposals and has hosted five industry days, Sprang said. The follow-on JLTV is known as the A2 version.

"We've really tried to shape and make sure that when the government identifies...