JLTV EMD Phase - The Winners are In

Three awards were made for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (Oshkosh, $56,402,286 (L-ATV) phase of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) programme. The value of these awards include both the base contract effort (capped at $65 million) and an evaluated, unexercised Level of Effort (LOE) option price. AM General, $64,511,108 (BRV-O [Blast-Resistant Vehicle Off Road] vehicle), Lockheed Martin, $66,319,507, and Oshkosh, $56,402,286 (L-ATV). These awards are incrementally funded, firm-fixed price contracts for the 27 month EMD effort. The full and open competition solicitation that was issued on 26 January 2012 utilised a best value tradeoff source selection process. Approximately $99.5 million was obligated for the three contractors by this action, with initial funding of approximately $28-$36 million for each contractor. The balance of the funding, up to full base contract amount, will be provided in FY13 and FY14. The US Army and USMC leaders have stipulated the per vehicle truck price must fall under $250,000. Adjusting the price ceiling to under $250,000 was one of the major breakthroughs that kept the JLTV programme alive when many thought it might be replaced by the HUMVEE Recap programme. The Army plans to buy at least 50,000 vehicles and the USMC plans to buy 5,000 more.

The JLTVcompetition has been turned on its head by a change to the programmes requirements, schedule and cost. The winners of the EMD phase fltr: AM General, Lockheed Martin, and Oshkosh Defenses L-ATV. Navistar bid a variant of its SARATOGA light tactical vehicle, which the company launched in October last year at AUSA, after conducting its own automotive and blast testing, but was not chosen. (Photos via the respective companies)

The JLTV is comprised of two variants, a two-seat- and a four-seat variant, and a companion trailer (JLTV-T). The two-seat variant has one base vehicle platform: The Utility (UTL). The four-seat variant has two Base Vehicle Platforms: The Close Combat Weapons Carrier (CCWC), and The General Purpose (GP). Each base vehicle platform will be configured as a Mission Package Configuration through the installation of Mission Packages. JLTV Mission Package configurations are, Utility (JLTV-UTL), Close Combat Weapons Carrier (JLTV-CCWC), General Purpose (JLTV-GP), and Heavy Guns Carrier (JLTV-HGC). The EMD contracts will provide for fabrication, assembly, integration, testing and test support, and related requirements in accordance with the contract and the JLTV purchase description.


AM General's independent proposal for the JLTV is based on the Blast Resistant Vehicle - Off road (BRV-O).

(Screenshot: AM General)

"We are pleased to receive this contract award for the next step in the JLTV programme," said Charles M. Hall, president and CEO of AM General. "It's a tribute to the design, engineering and program management team that developed, built and tested BRV-O, and to the AM General workforce that has established such a great track record of supporting our military customers with innovative, affordable and dependable light tactical vehicle products and services for more than five decades. As the most experienced tactical wheeled vehicle provider in the US, AM General is uniquely focused on meeting the needs of the US Armed Forces and our team is prepared to move forward shoulder-to-shoulder with our customer on this critical national initiative. BRV-O is ready now to meet warfighters demands for a new light tactical vehicle."

BRV-O is based on more than a decade of AM General investments in research, development and testing for this next-generation light tactical military vehicle. Its mobility technology accumulated more than 300,000 operational test miles and demonstrated high reliability and maintainability. BRV-O features a crew capsule and modular armour already proven effective in government-supervised blast testing. The BRV-O features AM General's lightweight, fuel efficient and high performance engine and transmission powertrain; a self-levelling suspension system; a C4ISR backbone with open-standard networked architecture and clustered super-computing power; and other advanced components.


The Lockheed Martin team optimised a JLTV model already proven in government testing to create its EMD design. The production-enhanced JLTV maintains the proven force protection, mobility, transportability and reliability of the earlier Technology Demonstration (TD) model, while significantly reducing weight and cost. The teams JLTV design reflects improvements from more than 160,000 combined testing miles.

(Photo: Lockheed Martin)

"We are extremely pleased to announce the selection of the Lockheed Martin JLTV design as one of three mature vehicles selected to enter the EMD Phase of the JLTV programme, said Col. David Bassett, Project Manager at the JLTV Joint Program Office. We are confident that the Lockheed Martin team, along with the other two selected vehicles, are ready to demonstrate their ability to meet and exceed our requirements, deliver vehicles on schedule, and achieve the manufacturing and sustainment costs necessary to compete effectively for production."

Formed in 2005, the Lockheed Martin-led JLTV team includes tactical wheeled vehicles expertise at BAE Systems in Sealy, Texas, which is an industry leader in advanced armour solutions and high volume assembly. The team also includes numerous Tier 1 suppliers, including: Allison Transmission, Cummins Engine, L3 Combat Propulsion Systems, Meritor Defense, Robert Bosch LLC and Vehma International of America.


The Oshkosh JLTV solution, called the Light Combat Tactical All-Terrain Vehicle (L-ATV), offers an advanced crew protection system that has been extensively tested and is proven to optimise crew survivability. The L-ATV can accept multiple armour configurations, which allows the vehicle to adapt easily to changing operational requirements. The L-ATV also applies the Oshkosh TAK-4i intelligent independent-suspension system to provide significantly faster speeds when operating off-road, which can be critical to troops safety.

(Photo: Oshkosh)

The JLTV programme is critical to supporting our troops who stand in harms way and deserve the best equipment that industry can provide, said John Urias, Oshkosh Corporation Executive Vice President and President, Oshkosh Defense. The Oshkosh JLTV solution will allow the Army and USMC to provide unprecedented levels of protection and off-road mobility in a light vehicle so that their troops can accomplish their missions and return home safely.

Note

With all the statements in, it should be noted that it is surprising that the US DoD only picked one team that participated in the TD phase as well. This again makes one think about what will happen at the end of the EMD phase. Let us not forget, there is another phase, the production and deploy-ment phase, which will follow normal acquisition policies and processes, which is to conduct full and open competition absent proper justification to restrict competition.
For the initial production contract, which is currently planned to be solicited in FY15, the US gov-ernment intends to award one firm fixed price contract consisting of a base three year Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract with an option(s) for five years of Full Rate Production (FRP) deliveries. Mind you, the government hasn't finalised the evaluation criteria for the production phase.
Meaning, if a company did not receive an EMD award, but wishes to proceed at its own risk and at its own expense, it can notify government of its intentions, and may be in place for production source selection. And just like we have now seen, it might just pay off.