House panel wants faster adoption of humvee anti-rollover tech

House authorizers want the Army to add antilock brakes and electronic stability control more aggressively to its humvee fleet to prevent rollover accidents.

Language in the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee's mark of the fiscal year 2022 defense bill would require the Army to provide a briefing on the adoption of the safety technology, and the subcommittee encourages the service to speed up the process.

The Army mandated that all new or recapitalized humvees include the safety technology in 2018, after years of dangerous rollover accidents, particularly on up-armored vehicles. The service has also purchased retrofit kits that add the technology to existing vehicles.

"The committee is concerned, however, that the Army investment in new production and retrofit installations, either at home station or the depot, is not as aggressive as necessary to manage risk in the HMMWV fleet," the subcommittee's mark stated. "The committee is concerned that the fleet upgrade may take longer than prudent risk allows."

The subcommittee supported the combined approach of adding the technology through new builds and retrofits, with the goal of including the technology on all humvees in the enduring fleet. The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle will partially replace the humvee, but roughly 50,000 up-armored humvees are expected to remain in the Army fleet.