Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker, has discussed with the Defense Department the possibility of competing to build the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, a prospect that government sources say influenced DOD's recent move to drastically lower cost targets. Ford, which cranked out Vietnam-era Jeeps and other trucks for more than two decades before largely exiting the military tactical vehicle business in the early 1980s, has considered leveraging its commercial truck line to build a vehicle that -- in partnership...