Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Army awarded prototype contracts totaling just over $24 million to four manufacturing teams from Mack Defense, Navistar Defense, Oshkosh Defense, and the joint team from American Rheinmetall Vehicles and GM Defense, according to a Jan. 27 press release.
- The manufacturers will provide prototypes of different variants of the Army’s common tactical truck as part of the contract. The prototype project is part of the Army’s Common Tactical Truck program, which aims to modernize the Army's vehicle technology, among other goals.
- The companies will work on the prototypes before being evaluated next year and tested in 2025. After that, the Army will launch a separate competition in Fiscal Year 2026 that could lead to a production contract worth billions.
Funding for prototypes range from $4M to over $6M
Dive Insight:
Wolfgang Petermann, Transportation Systems project manager at the Army’s Program Executive Office Combat Support and Combat Service Support, said the program is intended to redesign the vehicles and integrate commercial technologies, such as fuel efficiency and advanced driver systems.
The program also requests that the common tactical trucks include features such as commonality, digitization readiness, survivability, and sustainment.
“This approach allows the Army to modernize at the pace of industry, integrating new technologies as they are developed,” Petermann said in a statement. “Additionally, commonality in the [common tactical truck] family of vehicles will enable open modular designs and interchangeable repair parts across the fleet, resulting in streamlined supply chains and reduced total lifecycle costs.”
The current fleet of heavy tactical vehicles — M915 Line Haul Tractor and M1088 Medium Tractor; Palletized Load System; and Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck — are no longer aligned with today’s technology, according to the prototype proposal on the National Advanced Mobility Consortium website.
Thus, the U.S. government sought out vehicle manufacturers that could provide modern replacement vehicles and incorporate other technological advancements.
For the manufacturers, the Army’s defense needs could eventually result in a lucrative contract.
The Army’s initial production contract after testing and another competition could include over 7,000 trucks valued at over $5.1 billion, according to Mack Defense’s press release. The assets would be high-value, too: GM Defense and American Rheinmetall Systems estimated the 40,000 trucks produced could be worth up to $14 billion.
