ALLENTOWN, PA (Feb. 13, 2020) – Mack Defense has assembled the 1,587th and final truck for the Medium Support Vehicle System (MSVS) Standard Military Pattern (SMP) program. The truck rolled off the assembly line on Feb. 13 in Saint Nicolas, Quebec in front of a select group of dignitaries, military officials and Mack Defense employees.
Mack Defense has assembled the 1,587th and final truck for the Medium Support Vehicle System (MSVS) Standard Military Pattern (SMP) program. The truck rolled off the assembly line on Feb. 13 in Saint Nicolas, Quebec in front of a select group of dignitaries, military officials and Mack Defense employees. Pictured from left to right are MSVS trucks in Cargo, Load Handling System (LHS), Material Handling Crane (MHC), and Material Repair Truck (MRT) variants.
“Mack Defense is proud to have completed the build out of these trucks, and we look forward to continuing the program and supporting the more than 1,500 MSVS trucks that will be in service with the Canadian Armed Forces,” said David Hartzell, president, Mack Defense. “This program demonstrates the global reach and collaboration Mack Defense is capable of.”
Mack Defense is part of the Volvo Group and leveraged the Group’s large industrial footprint and global capabilities to engineer and produce the MSVS SMP trucks. Before final production took place at a Prevost facility in Saint Nicolas, additional work was completed at facilities located in Bourg-en-Bresse, Marolles, Blainville and Limoges, France. The MSVS SMP program was coordinated through Mack Defense headquarters in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
In addition, Mack Defense called upon several key Canadian partners including Dumur Industries Ltd., EODC, Inc., Marshall, Craig Manufacturing and Link Suspensions of Canada (Raydan Division) to contribute to the project.
Mack Defense was awarded two contracts in 2015 valued at $725 million CAD by the Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada on behalf of the Department of National Defense. The contracts called for Mack Defense to deliver more than 1,500 8×8 MSVS SMP trucks, including variants such as cargo, material handling cranes, load handling systems (LHS) and mobile repair trucks (MRT).
Volvo Group? Is this the same Volvo that is mostly owned by China?
From my understanding, Volvo AB (the heavy vehicle group) is distinct from Volvo Cars (consumers) in its ownership despite the shared brand. Geely (the Chinese company) does have a stake in Volvo AB (but does not wholly own/control it at this time.
https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-chinas-geely-buying-stake-in-swedish-truck-maker-volvo-2017-12
But that’s not a first for defense contractors though… Arc’Teryx for instance is part of Amer Sports which was taken over by a Chinese consortium not so long ago.
99% of the arcteryx line was already made in china anyways, so it didn’t really mattered now that it’s under the Amer umbrella.
Only LEAF and the Alpha SV are still made in Canada
Only some parts of LEAF are still made in Canada.
RUMINT says Arc’teryx’s Chinese ownership is problematic for some SOF units. Understandable given the info you can glean from unit purchases, not to mention some of Arc’ consultants have security clearances.
Where do you hear that?
Those are actually Renault Kerax trucks with MACK branding. And assembled in Quebec. Makes perfect sense.