AM General’s corporate ancestors built jeeps in World War II. The company designed and still builds the military’s iconic Humvee. But in the battle to build the Humvee’s replacement, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, AM General is ironically not the incumbent but the scrappy underdog. [Follow these links to read more and see video about… Keep reading →

AUSA: Last month’s Association of the US Army conference in Washington was a chance for contractors to show off their biggest programs, and they don’t get much bigger than the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, a $15 billion-plus program to replace the Humvee. But for one of the three companies competing to build the JLTV, the… Keep reading →

[UPDATED 12:45 pm] Truck maker Navistar is withdrawing the protest it filed Friday with the Government Accountability Office over the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program, company spokeswoman Elissa Koc told Breaking Defense this morning. Had Navistar persisted, its protest probably would have delayed JLTV development for months while the GAO investigated whether the military ran… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Navistar has withdrawn its protest — click here for the latest. Buy 54,599 armored trucks at $250,000 each and that works out to roughly $13.6 billion. That’s the military’s current plan to build Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs), which will replace most of the Army and Marine Corps’ vulnerable Humvees and unmaneuverable MRAPs (The… Keep reading →

Three very different teams are contending to build the Humvee’s replacement, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. Breaking Defense weighs their strengths and weaknesses. Last week, the Army and Marines slashed a crowded field of competitors in half, awarding contracts for “engineering and manufacturing development” of JLTV prototypes to aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, truck maker Oshkosh,… Keep reading →

[updated 4:00 pm with AM General comment] The Army and Marines took a big step towards replacing their vulnerable Humvees and lumbering MRAPs yesterday evening when they awarded contracts to defense giant Lockheed Martin, truck maker Oshkosh, and Humvee manufacturer AM General to develop alternatives for a new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). The military… Keep reading →

There were sighs of relief in Norway and Pennsylvania late Friday, and doubtless groans in Australia and Arizona, when the US Army awarded a five-year, $970 million contract for 3,000 more CROWS weapons stations to Kongsberg Defense. Norwegian arms-maker Kongsberg, the incumbent, beat out multiple challengers, including Canberra-based Electro-Optic Systems, which had partnered with US… Keep reading →

DepSecDef Carter @ #HASC says sequester wld mean cuts 4 F-35s, 1 P-8, 12 Strykers, 300 medium, heavy tactical vehicles CVN-78, LCS delays ColinClarkAol

Much like microwaves and satellites, the US military could serve as an incubator for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technology, helping it advance to a point where it can stand on its own in the global marketplace. In one of the latest examples of the private sector collaborating with the military on new technologies, General Motors… Keep reading →

FT. LAUDERDALE: With the Army’s Humvee modernization plan a thing of the past, service leaders now plan to pour billions into sustaining what’s left of the venerable combat truck fleet. The current roster of combat-ready Humvees in the Army’s arsenal is “still sustainable” to carry out a wide range of missions, from air assault ops… Keep reading →