Whether it’s on the battlefield or at the site of a disaster, the iconic HMMWV has served
the United States loyally since 1985, and over those 30 years more than 281,000 “Humvees”
have rolled off the AM General production lines.
US Department of Defense (DOD) initiated Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program to replace
and improve upon the aging Humvee.
A rigorous testing exercise was undertaken to choose a model from 3 different vendors.
Oshkosh was declared as winner in 25 August 2015, when its model was selected over Lockheed
Martin and AM General’s models.
JLTV is as much as a technology leap over the Humvee, as the Humvee was to the Jeep-like
Ford M151 MUTT before it.
Although Humvees will continue to serve behind-the-scenes with the Army and Marines until 2050, the
new JLTV will be in the frontline.
Overall JLTV requirements are 5,500 vehicles for the Marine Corps entering service in FY
2020 with all to be delivered in FY 2022, and 49,099 for the Army entering service in
late 2019 with deliveries occurring through 2040.
In this video, Defense Updates lists top 5 improvements that Oshkosh JLTV has over the Humvee.
While the Humvee continues to prove itself as a versatile military design, the Iraq and
Afghanistan conflicts revealed a fatal flaw—insufficient protection from improvised explosive devices (IDE).
The Oshkosh JLTV chassis has been designed to provide better survivability.
Compared to an up-armored Humvee, a basic Oshkosh JLTV offers multiple orders of magnitude
more protection from bullets and bombs to its occupants.
Also, each Oshkosh JLTV is capable of being fitted with a “B-Kit” of armor, boosting
protection to level similar to that of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
It is a very important thing.
Pentagon findings showed that in 2009, U.S. troops in MRAPs were 17 times more likely
to survive IED blasts than in Humvees.
Since the Humvee first went into service, its engine has been upgraded to a 6.5-liter
turbodiesel V-8 that produces an inadequate 190 hp & 780 lb-ft of torque.
That’s hardly enough power to motivate the base Humvee’s roughly 6,000-pound curb weight,
let alone the 13,000-plus-pound curb weight of an armored Humvee.
The end result is Humvees have a top speed of 70 miles per hour.
The Oshkosh JLTV uses tweaked General Motors (GM) Duramax 6.6-liter turbodiesel V8.
The current variant of the engine summons 397 horsepower and 765 lb-ft of torque.
This power will be able to propel the vehicle to a top speed of 100 mph.
Double the torque will also enable the JLTV to better navigate tricky terrain.
Although Humvees were initially pretty reliable in the field, as they aged and as the military
upgraded them with heavy armor that increased wear and tear, they needed more and more maintenance.
During the testing phase of the JLTV program, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps brought along
22 up-armored Humvees to test alongside Oshkosh, Lockheed Martin, and AM General’s JLTV entrants,
with each manufacturer providing 22 test vehicles.
During nearly 3 years of testing, platoons equipped with Oshkosh JLTVs had the highest
levels of mission success.
Oshkosh’s JLTVs were also far and away the most reliable of the bunch, averaging 7,051
miles between operational mission failures, defined as a system failure that prevents
the vehicle from accomplishing its mission.
Up-armored Humvees were surprisingly the second-most reliable of the group, averaging 2,968 miles
between failures, followed by the Lockheed Martin JLTV at 1,271 miles between failures,
and the AM General JLTV, which averaged only 526 miles between failures.
Oshkosh fits each JLTV with its TAK-4i suspension system.
It is fully independent double-wishbone design with electronically adjustable high-pressure
gas shocks.
The JLTV’s suspension has 20 inches of wheel travel, and the ability to raise and lower
the suspension as needed.
It is significantly better than Humvee’s ground clearance of 16 inches.
In a Humvee the troops, tend to be thrown around inside the cabin when the Humvee travels
over rough terrain.
2 to 3 hours of such travel can leave the occupant significantly fatigued.
The advanced suspension in JLTV provides a much smoother rides, as the cabin practically
floats over the wheels.
The wheels move up and down a lot, but the cabin remains stable.
The HUMVEE was never designed to tightly integrate with multiple sensors or process lot of information.
The Oshkosh JLTV is designed from ground up to incorporate multiple sensors & informational systems.
This includes the following:
1. Long Range Surveillance: Enabling early detection of threat.
2. Shot Detection: Easily find origin of incoming fire.
3. Silent Watch Power Systems: Low noise mode, harder to detect.
4. Visible Light and IR camera systems: Better visual recognition.