The US military is sporting a new ride. The old workhorse the
high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, more commonly
known as the Humvee is showing its age. The Humvee was
originally designed to ferry troops around the battlefield in
Europe against the Soviet Union. But it's saw the most action in
the deserts of the Middle East.
You know, the Humvee was designed 35 years ago.
It certainly served our nation well. But as we saw in Iraq and
Afghanistan, it only offers so much protection from roadside
threats. insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan used improvised
explosive devices against American forces as their weapon
of choice. In response, military leaders brought in mine
resistant ambush protected vehicles mraps which could
survive IED blast better than Humvees. But with those wars
winding down, the US military began looking to the future and
what they wanted was a vehicle designed to be both survivable
and capable of light transport.
That's the constant battle with the military it's Do you lose
protection and gain mobility? It's a constant thing with that
the joint light tactical vehicle currently produced by Oshkosh
defense was picked to fill this capability.
This vehicle was designed from the ground up to provide
survivability against threats that no other light vehicle
could ever handle. But will this
new advanced tactical vehicle be the answer for the future of
warfighting?
The am General Humvee with a V eight engine and a top speed of
around 70 miles per hour is an iconic symbol of American might.
The Humvee is an incredible vehicle, but it was really
designed to replace you know, the jeep and a series of light
trucks that the US military was using at the time.
After the invasion of Iraq insurgents began using
improvised explosive devices to attack convoys. because of a
lack of armor and a flat hole. The Humvee became a prime
target.
So early on, guys would literally throw sandbags on the
floor of their Humvees, hoping it would absorb some of the
blast
these improvised explosive devices which were the weapon of
choice for insurgents in both Iraq and Afghanistan. They shoot
these Humvees 20 feet up in the air they
be ripped in half. In the US the outcry over the lack of armor
for these vehicles caused a political backlash over the
failure to give troops needed protection. Some Humvees were up
armored, but the basic design of the Humvee which left it
vulnerable to explosives from below couldn't be fixed.
The American public felt like it was moving too slowly. Congress
felt like it was moving too slowly at the time, too. And in
hindsight, it really was. But the truth is, it was a bit of a
miracle that we were able to get the MRAPS out there and into
operation as fast as we did.
In the scramble to field these mine resistant ambush protected
vehicles. The US military bought several different designs. This
included concepts from base systems Navistar defense and
Oshkosh defense, among others. A few examples of MRAPS are the
cougar six by six, the maxxpro and the lighter M-ATV, which
were all fielded by the US military, the MRAPS were
expensive, some cost over $1 million per unit, and it's many
different designs made logistics much more complicated. These
trucks saved countless lives of US soldiers, but their weight
expense and complexity made them less than ideal for frontline
military service.
The experience in Iraq and Afghanistan resulted in
incremental improvements to the MRAP designs.
They're specifically designed to be blown up and keep the crew
alive inside they they're really high off the ground, they'll
have like V shaped halls, which would send the explosion out.
They're not vehicles that have a lot of versatility to them. They
can't navigate tough terrain very well.
The army and Marines wanted a lighter replacement, which could
handle rough terrain and have better protection than the
Humvee. The idea became the joint light tactical vehicle
jltv.
The jltv combines the protection of the MRAP, which was so
critical in Iraq and Afghanistan with the agility of the Humvee.
I mean, I've driven it you could be you know, with the suspension
system, you could be drinking a cup of coffee, going over
massive bumps and not spill,
the Defense Department started a competition in 2011 to find the
next major land vehicle for the army and Marines. And in 2015,
after years of testing, the Oshkosh defense jltv was chosen
amongst seven other bidders. An initial contract was $6.7
billion was offered with the potential for a follow on
contract with $12.3 billion at the end of 2022. This also means
Oshkosh will have to re compete potentially with companies like
GM defense who expressed interest in the jltv contract
when the renewal period occurs in 2022.
When we won jltv in 2015. There were mega companies that that we
had to compete against. So we expect that they'll there'll be
some of that in this competition as well. We, in 2015, we knew
we'd have to win it again. We knew we knew we'd be facing off
against the normal traditional tactical wheeled vehicle OEMs
and we expected that they would also be another David versus
Goliath I have component to the competition. So I would say
that, you know, we're confident, but we're not overconfident.
The jltv cost per unit was aimed at $250,000 at the program's
inception. Since then, the cost for one Oshkosh defense jltv has
risen to roughly $400,000. Depending on the modifications,
the venerable Humvee will still be around to complement the new
jltv as a low cost option. Originally, the Humvee cost a
bit over $50,000 per unit. However, new Humvees equipped
with new electronics and possibly armor can cost around
$200,000, which is still cheaper than the jltv.
The National Guard uses Humvees to drive into towns responding
to civil disturbance or natural disasters, or their use it
overseas just as stationary fighting positions.
Well, it's important to remember that when you put the Humvee in
the environment that it was intended for. It is an
incredibly capable platform. I've been in Humvees in country
and other countries, and I've seen them do astonishing things
you'll see Humvees dig themselves out of mud pits that
you think were impossible. Meanwhile, more than 13,000
jltv's is have been delivered to the US and international
partners so far and more on the way. According to Oshkosh,
defense is received orders or commitments for the jltv from
eight countries besides the US. The jltv comes in multiple
variants. Some are focused on carrying troops and others are
built for special purpose missions like carrying weapons,
or hauling gear like a traditional truck. One big
advantage of the jltv is the electronics and computers used
to make the vehicle more capable in high tech fights.
One of the things that excites me the most about the jltv is a
Marine Corps program called the Navy Marine Expeditionary ship,
interdiction system or nemesis, Nemesis basically takes the jltv
straps a missile launcher on top and makes the whole platform
autonomous.
I think the jltv looks like it's probably going to be a pretty
capable platform. It really was built with the idea of combining
the best aspects of the Humvee with the best aspects of the
MRAP designs to make one vehicle that could survive in a 21st
century conflict, the
amazing capability of the jltv combined with what's really a
very amazing price for the vehicle have brought just
tremendous international acceptance. There's a wide
variety of companies, countries, some of them asked not to be
named right now. But between Slovenia, Montenegro, Lithuania,
the United Kingdom, Belgium, Brazil, North Macedonia, Middle
Eastern countries. All of these countries are in various stages
of either the foreign military sales process, or the direct
commercial sales process.
The jltv, along with the Humvee will be mainstays of the US
military for years to come. But the army has shown some
intention of lowering the amount of jltv. it intends to procure
in order to divert those funds to other priorities, which
includes modernizing the Humvee fleet. I'm always in favor of
competition within the defense industrial base that makes us
you know, healthier. That being said, I mean, I think as the
incumbent on the jltv program, Oshkosh, defense is best
position for the jltv re compete the electric vehicle revolution
hasn't gone unnoticed by the Pentagon. The US Army has been
exploring battery powered rechargeable vehicles for years.
And if you can take away fueling vehicles, it doesn't sound like
a lot but every everything you take off a soldier's plate will
improve their their combat readiness.
We actually raced a diesel hybrid electric version of our
jltv in the Baja 1000. Way back in 2010.
particularly we're talking about doing distributed Ops, in denied
environments comes with all sorts of questions about you
know, how good our is our technology for recharging
electric vehicles, things like that. So I'm interested in the
technology I always want to push God to be innovating, looking
for more efficient, less costly solutions. So it's just not
something I think we can take off the shelf right now and put
in the field but it is something we should be experimenting with
aggressively