U.S. military tracks popular with overseas customers.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Viewpoint

American tactical wheeled vehicle manufacturers are bullish on the international market for trucks as the cachet of being used by the U.S. military remains a big selling point for overseas militaries, executives said.

Doug Malikowski, director of international programs at Polaris Government and Defense, said the company can track where U.S. special operations forces are using its light off-road vehicles by the phone calls it receives from local militaries who have seen them in action.

"A lot of countries that we are allied with are seeing our products and making decisions to do additional research and follow-on procurements," he said.

Executives interviewed from Navistar Defense, AM General and Oshkosh Corp., along with Polaris, all reported strong international interest in U.S.-made military vehicles. All four companies recently displayed their products at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference, or IDEX, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where the floor was rife with truck makers from throughout the world. Despite the competition, the fact that the U.S. military has used a vehicle still carries a lot of weight with foreign buyers, they said.

That even goes for one truck that has yet to be fielded, the joint light tactical vehicle, or the JLTV, manufactured by Oshkosh.

George Mansfield, vice president of the company's international programs, told National Defense that two countries, which he could not name for confidentiality reasons, have now formally requested the JLTV through the Defense Department's foreign military sales program.

The Army is currently putting the JLTV through a test-and-evaluation phase. A decision on full-rate production isn't expected until the first quarter of fiscal year 2019. The company cannot sell the vehicle overseas until it has received the green light to proceed, but countries are allowed to get a head start on the FMS process, which takes anywhere from 18 to 36 months.

"We are working with a few customers right now with getting through that process of FMS," he said. The company is initially concentrating on European customers, particularly NATO members, who want to have equipment compatible with their U.S. ally.

"They are looking for a protective, highly mobile vehicle... at the price we gave the U.S. government. With the efficiencies of that big order, we can give them a very affordable price," Mansfield said.

The truck's average procurement unit cost decreased by nearly 17 percent since the...