Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

Army JLTV request may come this summer

The Army plans to issue a request for proposal for its next-generation Humvee as soon as this summer, Lockheed Martin officials said.

The Army’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program has been drawing from industry mock-ups and various design studies to refine requirements for the vehicle. The request will ask industry to make offers to build prototypes for the new vehicle that match the extensive requirements.

Army officials did not return calls by press time.

The Web site of the Army’s TACOM Lifecycle Management Command, which runs the JLTV effort, lists a preliminary test schedule that calls for the testing of initial prototypes to begin in the third quarter of 2008, with operational testing to start in early 2009.

Initial JLTV production is set to begin in 2010, according to the TACOM Web site. However, Lockheed and Army officials expect this timetable to be accelerated.

As part of the effort, Lockheed has produced a technology demonstrator vehicle to help the Army refine requirements for the JLTV under a $9 million deal signed in early February. Called Future Tactical Truck Systems, the vehicle is now with the Army at Fort Lewis, Wash. The 23,000-pound FTTS has an add-on armor B-kit and an airbag suspension system, said Cathryn Hasse, director of the tactical wheeled division at Lockheed Martin.

“We utilized an innovative space frame chassis, a chassis design that has been utilized within the racing community. It provides significant rigidity to the vehicle and takes a lot of weight out. The space frame is made of welded steel, and it forms a four-sided box with empty space in between,” Hasse said.

The FTTS is built with a 14-inch ride-height suspension; an adjustable air bag suspension system that allows the chassis to move up or down depending on the terrain, said Hasse.

Also, Lockheed has partnered with Armor Holdings to deliver a prototype for the JLTV, the Combat Tactical Vehicle.

Lockheed is one of at least five industry teams that have been working on designs, technology and vehicle mock-ups, addressing a TACOM request for information that went out in December. A key question: Can the new vehicle be light, mobile and sufficiently armored?

The Navy’s Office of Naval Research has been working on technological answers to the question since 2005, and has ordered modeling and simulation aid from AM General, BAE Systems, Cadillac Gage, General Dynamics Land Systems and Oshkosh.

“It’s a challenge,” said ONR engineer Jeff Bradel. “We have aggressive survivability requirements which leads down the path of heavier armor, yet at the same time, we need the vehicles to be expeditionary, which means they need to be light enough to fit on helicopters.”

Bradel said ONR is looking at various kinds of composite armor and hybrid propulsion systems. ONR officials estimate that the vehicle will ultimately cost $200,000 to $250,000 apiece.

Among other goals for the JLTV:

• Weigh less than 14,000 pounds.

• Travel at least 65 mph.

• Maximize the use of command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance suites that are being developed for the Army’s Future Combat Systems.

Some observers say the Iraq war has changed the requirements for light vehicles.

“There is no longer a sharp separation between combat vehicles and tactical vehicles. Now, all tactical vehicles are combat vehicles that need to be armored and armed,” said an industry analyst.