Odierno: JLTV is 'Central Piece' of Future Army - DoD Buzz
Army’s top officer said the new light-duty vehicle slated to replace the iconic Humvee is a key part of the future ground force. Raymond Odierno, who plans to step down when his term ends in September, said the service still plans to buy nearly 50,000 of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV, to replace about a third of the Humvee fleet. Overall, the Army and the Marine Corps plan to buy a total of 54,720 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles at an estimated cost of more than $30 billion, or about $559,000 per vehicle, according to Pentagon budget documents released this year. Officials have said the cost of manufacturing the vehicle alone will be about $250,000. Companies hoping the build the first 17,000 production models of the vehicle submitted their final bids to the Army in February. Humvee-maker AM General, truck-maker Oshkosh Corp. Each of the firms delivered 22 prototypes to the Army for testing under a previous contract. The Army is expected to announce an award for low-rate initial production of the JLTV this summer, possibly next month. “We have taken the lessons that we’ve learned in terms of having enough space to make sure we can get inside of these things, all of the communications capabilities that we’ve developed over the years, as well as providing protection for our... Source: www.dodbuzz.com
