Auto giant General Motors is the outsider in a competition against two teams of companies with decades of defense experience: Oshkosh-Flyer and Polaris-SAIC.

The sale to Montenegro might be small, but the US push into the Balkans will not make Moscow happy.

Army Secretary Mark Esper has publicly said the armored off-road truck was designed to defeat guerrillas, at a time when the Army is refocusing on great powers. But the Army still plans to buy about 50,000 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and has even added JLTV to its elite list of 31 top-priority programs.

The Army’s rebuilding to face China and Russia. That may leave programs designed over the past decade for COIN operations in the dust.

The Army’s not sure it wants 55,000 JLTVs — but manufacturer Oshkosh is doubling down. Why?

Good news: That’s more money than the Army thought it could get for its top priorities. Bad news: We won’t see most of it this year.

AUSA: Polaris is a small, tough company that makes small, tough trucks, favored by the Marines, Special Forces, and allied nations. They’re basically military-grade dune buggies, easy to transport by plane or helicopter and easy to customize to the mission. In this video, Polaris shows us one of their larger DAGOR vehicles configured to carry a full eight-man squad… Keep reading →

SOUTH BEND, IND.: The US military replaced its Humvees in Afghanistan and Iraq, with heavier, better armored vehicles because of the threat from roadside bombs. But that approach may not work In a high-tech conflict, argues manufacturer AM General. You might want to go back to the Humvee. Why? Because it’s simpler. There are no… Keep reading →

HUNTSVILLE, ALA.: The Army keeps putting more powerful lasers on smaller vehicles. Battlefield lasers in testing today can shoot down snooping quadcopters and other small drones. By the early 2020s, however vehicles mobile enough to keep up with combat brigades – Strykers and FMTV trucks – will have power in the 50 to 100 kilowatt… Keep reading →

AUSA: There are almost a quarter-million Humvees (and counting) around the world, from the US to Ukraine to the Philippines, and AM General built them all. The Indiana-based company is constantly finding new ways to upgrade the 1980s-vintage design, but this is the most radical I’ve seen: a cargo Humvee whose flatbed holds a howitzer, the kind of weapon… Keep reading →