Madison Heights, Mich. – August 17, 2023- Navistar Defense, LLC (Navistar Defense) announced today it was selected by leading military mobility solutions provider, AM General, to partner in the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV A2) program. The subcontract is to manufacture an estimated 10,000 JLTV trailers over the life of the contract.
“We are excited that AM General chose us to partner in this important program to support the United States military,” said Ted Wright, chief executive officer, Navistar Defense. “AM General is a world class Tactical Vehicle manufacturer and we’re eager to support their team.”
“We look forward to working with our industry partner on this contract,” added Wright. “The JLTV trailer subcontract allows us to continue diversifying our business portfolio, support our growth in Mississippi, and expand our growing business,” added Wright.
“Welcoming Navistar Defense to the JLTV A2 program is a key milestone in our operations,” said John Chadbourne, AM General Executive VP – Chief Business Development Officer. “Their commitment to excellence translates into the quality products they are known for in the industry. Since receiving the JLTV A2 program contract, our main focus is to deliver quality vehicles on time and on target and this includes the equipment needed to ensure our Warfighters can succeed in their missions.”
The JLTV A2 trailer is a multipurpose platform configured to support general purpose cargo and tactical generator mobility missions. The trailer is built to operate with the Closed Combat Weapons Carrier, the General Purpose, Heavy Guns Carrier and Utility JLTV variants over the same mission profile of those vehicles.
Production will begin in 2024 and will take place at Navistar Defense’s Assembly Plant located in West Point, Mississippi. The period of performance is for five-base years, with the option for an additional five years.
While I understand the DoD’s desire to keep AM General from folding, I have serious doubts that their bid beat Oshkosh on any meaningful merit, especially if you consider the way they likely underbid solely to survive.
Oshkosh has obvious advantages as the platform designer, but also the fact that they’ve got armored vehicle design/redesign/manufacturing down to a science, across multiple platforms.
AM General had years of gov funding during JLTV and all they could manage was an abysmal showing, so bad that they knew protesting would be useless, and now we’re expected to believe that they can get it together for the most critical phase of this program…an serious design change and platform upgrade?
This reeks of corporate welfare.