GM Defense remains interested in the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle follow-on contract after the Army announced it would buy 40% fewer vehicles than initially planned, but the company is paying attention to the changing economics of producing the vehicle, according to Steve duMont, GM Defense’s president.
“The reduction, cutting the number of vehicles in half, changes the business case a bit,” duMont said during an Oct. 4 interview. “What we’re doing now is working very closely with the United States Army to understand how General Motors Defense brings our capability into that program to deliver the best future vehicle for the Army and Marine warfighter who will use that truck. So, we’re still actively engaged in evaluating how best to support the Army.”
Last month, the Army announced the follow-on JLTV production contract could include 16,600 vehicles over 10 years, if all options are exercised, down from the 30,000 vehicles that the service had predicted earlier in the competition. The expected number of trailers remained unchanged at 10,000.
If none of the options are exercised, the contract could last five years, in which time the military would buy 6,000 JLTVs and 5,500 trailers.
The JLTV has faced repeated budget cuts in recent years as the Army has redirected funding toward its priority modernization programs. Even before the cut to the follow-on contract, the service would not have met its JLTV procurement objective until 2042.
Oshkosh Defense has produced the JLTV since it won the original competition for the vehicle, but the Army ran another open competition for the follow-on production contract, which it plans to award in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022.
A congressional panel asked earlier this year about alternative acquisition strategies for the JLTV, such as a dual-source contract, under which two companies would produce identical vehicles. The Army said that it could be difficult to sustain two production lines with a shrinking budget.
General Motors’ electric vehicle and autonomous technologies could be key to future upgrades to the JLTV, duMont said. GM has announced plans to invest $35 billion in electric vehicle technology, and GM Defense could leverage its parent company’s capabilities for the military.
“That’s an area where GM Defense, we see ourselves truly as a company leading transformation with our defense and government customers to a more electric, a more autonomous future,” he said. “We think that we have a lot of important capability that could lead to a better vehicle for the future.”
The Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office is interested in prototypes for hybrid-electric versions of the JLTV and humvee. RCCTO expects companies to design and prototype hybrid modifications to existing vehicles within 15 months of contract award.