Army surveying industry to inform CTT requirements

The Army is gearing up to release a request for proposals for its Common Tactical Truck program, tentatively slated for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, according to a market research survey posted to industry on Feb. 20.

While the milestone is pre-decisional, the Army is also planning two dates to precede the RFP: a draft version to get industry feedback could land in September 2025 and an industry day would follow a month later, in October.

The CTT Family of Vehicles is designed to replace the Army’s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, Pelletized Load System, Line Haul Tractor and Medium Tractor vehicles, according to the latest report from the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation.

“The CTT supports worldwide combat operations and mitigates current TWV gaps in driver safety systems, autonomy, fuel consumption, and predictive maintenance,” according to the Army.

There are six variants planned for the CTT: A Line Haul Tractor, Off-Road Tractor, Load Handling System, Cargo Variant, Tanker Variant and Wrecker Variant. Some of the tasks the vehicles will undertake include “conducting line-haul/local-haul operations, self-load/unloading standard flat racks and containers, and transporting various mission packages to enhance the Combatant Commanders’ operational flexibility,” according to the Army. 

The service wants the truck to be able to perform its missions on primary and secondary roads, trails or “urban terrain,” in any sort of climate and perform effectively in the increasingly “highly contested, more lethal” land and cyber domains, according to the survey.

Competing vendors in the CTT program include Oshkosh Defense, Navistar, Mack Defense and a joint bid from American Rheinmetall and GM Defense, Inside Defense previously reported.

The market research survey includes 62 questions in all, drawing on cost, engineering, manufacturing and logistics concerns, among other topics like past performance, quality control and test and evaluation.

While the Army is still working on its requirements for the vehicle, the expectation is for the CTT to “meet or exceed” legacy requirements and to take advantage of “the commercial industry’s rapidly advancing fields of driver safety systems, cybersecurity, autonomy, improved fuel economy, off-road mobility, and predictive logistics,” the survey says.

The service hopes to transition the CTT program into a major capability acquisition pathway and begin low-rate initial production in FY-28 and is requesting funding to produce 7,217 CTTs by FY-35, according to DOT&E. 

Industry has until noon on March 20 to submit answers to the questionnaire.