M-ATV Reset Contract

Oshkosh Defense has been awarded $45 million to reset and upgrade 800 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles, according to a recent Defense Department notice.

The effort will be funded with approximately $39 million from fiscal year 2014 operations and maintenance funds, while the remaining amount would come out of the Army's "other procurement" account, the Aug. 1 contract announcement states.

The Pentagon spent $45 billion to rapidly acquire more than 25,000 MRAPs to replace humvees and better protect soldiers against underbody blasts from improvised explosive devices in Iraq. The M-ATV was rapidly acquired and sent to Afghanistan because legacy MRAPs were deemed too bulky and lacking in maneuverability for operations there.

The Army will keep all of its M-ATVs after the military drawdown in Afghanistan, though it will divest 13,000 legacy MRAPs from its fleet of 21,000. Approximately 3,000 M-ATVs will be stored in prepositioned stocks, while 1,700 are assigned to Army units (Inside the Army, July 15, 2013).

Oshkosh has won several M-ATV upgrade opportunities in past years, including $350 million to provide underbody improvement kits aimed at making the blast-resistant vehicle even more protected against improvised explosive devices (ITA, June 27, 2011).