The U.S. Army just dropped nearly a quarter of a billion dollars on the first lot of armored combat vehicles meant to replace the service’s battered Humvee fleet.
The “more than” $243 million order to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense covers the initial batch of 657 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles along with 2,977 “installed kits and related support,” the company said Wednesday in a statement.
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The JLTV effort is a relative success story in terms of a major acquisition program. Oshkosh won the competition to build the Humvee successor for the Army and Marine Corps last August, beating out defense industry giant Lockheed Martin and AM General for a contract that is expected to total $30 billion over its lifetime.
Work froze for about 100 days when Lockheed protested the contract selection to the Government Accountability Office; the company also filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The court filing prompted GAO to chuck the challenge and allow Oshkosh to get its production line up and running while the lawsuit played out in court. Lockheed dropped its lawsuit last month.
The once vaunted Humvee lost some of its luster as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dragged on and the services moved toward heavily armored mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles to better protect soldiers from roadside bombs. Military officials believe the lighter JLTV will help them regain some flexibility, and speed, on the battlefield.
Related: The Army’s $30 Billion Humvee Replacement Program Goes Off Road
The Army wants to buy around 49,000 JLTV vehicles, with acquisition slated to wrap up in 2040. Now that the initial order has been placed, the service could receive its first deliveries as soon as this October. The Marine Corps hopes to purchase 5,500 trucks and finish production in fiscal 2022.
The two services plan to spend $735 million to purchase 2,020 JLTVs next year, according to budget documents unveiled earlier last month.
The first wave of JLTVs aren’t expected to hit the field until 2018.
