Shown here is a photo of the Army’s JLTV. (US Army)
Columbus, Ohio — AM General, winner of the US Army’s closely watched Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) A2 contract, is moving forward and expanding a production facility to make the vehicle, while they and the Army await a potential protest from competitor Oshkosh Defense.
“We leaned forward in the saddle through this whole process to get all the planning, permitting… stuff out of the way before an announcement was ever made,” AM General’s Chief Executive Officer Jim Cannon told Breaking Defense on Tuesday. “So, when the announcement came, literally the next day, we’re breaking ground” to expand an existing production facility at its Mishawaka Manufacturing Campus in Indiana.
“We’re not under a stop work order, he said of the possibility of a protest-related pause. “[That] doesn’t mean we won’t be tomorrow, but we’re not under a stop work order.”
If construction proceeds unimpeded the new expansion for the JLTV A2 production facility should be completed within six months and will be near the company’s Humvee production line on the same campus. Then, within 18 months of the contractor award, the first JLTV A2 test vehicles are expected to roll off the production line, or around July 2024.
However, this timeline remains in question depending on whether Oshkosh Defense files a protest with the Government Accountability Office, a decision that should likely become clear within days. In a statement after the contract was awarded, Oshkosh Defense said it is “disappointed” with the government’s decision but has not yet disclosed if it will file a protest. The company did not immediately respond to Breaking Defense’s request for comment Thursday.
“A protest, with associated stop work order, will result in a day-to-day delay in initiating production,” Michael Sprang, the project manager with the Joint Program Office Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, wrote in Feb. 14 email in response to Breaking Defense’s questions.
In February, the service awarded AM General with a deal worth up to $8.66 billion over the next decade for up to 20,682 JLTVs and 9,883 trailers, a move that unseated incumbent JLTV producer Oshkosh Defense.
Now as the service waits to see what steps Oshkosh Defense might make, Sprang and other Army leaders were prevented from openly discussing the JLTV recompete specifics this week during a National Defense Industrial Association conference on tactical wheel vehicles. While they mentioned the program, they steered clear of discussing source selection and just how much money the service believes it will save on each JLTV A2 and trailer when compared to Oshkosh Defense’s current price point for the A1 vehicle. (Fiscal 2023 budget request documents said the Army expects to spend $413,000 for each JLTV this year under its current deal with Oshkosh Defense).
Despite the relative silence around the new deal, John Chadbourne, AM General’s executive vice president for business development and government affairs, said that under the deal, the Army owns the JLTV A2 technical data package, and the new version will look identical to the A1 in outer appearance. However, he said that there are notable differences between the A1 and A2 including an updated powertrain, “improved” routings for reliability and maintainability, new baseline integration kit designed to provide more cargo storage space, upgraded alternator, design changes to reduce vehicle noise, increased fuel efficiency, and more.
Cannon and Chadbourne declined to discuss some specific details about their company’s winning bid, including the price point, but said they were able to leverage commonalities with Humvee production to drive down their costs.
“We worked really hard, very diligently [ and] we had what I think is a world class team working on [the bid],” Cannon added.
