Lithuania will procure 200 US JLTV Joint Light Tactical Vehicles from Oshkosh Defense.

On November 21, 2019, the Defence Materiel Agency of Lithuania under the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence and the U.S. Department of Defence signed the Letter of Offer and Acceptance concerning procurement of 200 units of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV).

A U.S. Marine parks a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle at White Beach as part of the I Marine Expeditionary Force JLTV Operator New Equipment Training course on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Oct. 24, 2019. (Picture source U.S. DoD)

The new tactical vehicles will strengthen the present capabilities of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, increase mobility, personnel protection and combat power. Lithuania is purchasing the JLTVs from the U.S. Government that chose the Oshkosh Defense manufacturer.

The Letter of Offer and Acceptance was signed at the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania by Director of the Defence Materiel Agency under the MoD and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army Jeffrey S. White.

The JLTV all-terrain vehicles for the Lithuanian Armed Forces will be made by Oshkosh Defence, U.S. enterprise, in accordance with operational requirements formulated by the Lithuanian Armed Forces to meet its needs best concerning national defence and multinational deployments.

The new JLTVs will be equipped with turrets and 12. 7 mm M2 QCB machine-guns and given to battalions of the Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf and the Motorised Infantry Brigade Griffin while prioritizing the national rapid response forces. The first all-terrain vehicles are planned to be delivered to Lithuania in late 2021.

The Ministry of National Defence will allocate about EUR 145 million for the acquisition of JLTVs, equipment and weaponry complements, personnel training, spare parts, and sustainment in 2020-2024.

Lithuania seeks to get the most favorable conditions for JLTV procurement and sustainment through cooperation with the United States Government. Completing the procurement via the U.S. Government allows Lithuania to pay a significantly smaller price for the JLTVs because the U.S. Government placed a large JLTV order in its own right.

The Defence Materiel Council of the Ministry of National Defence found the U.S.-manufactured JLTVs to meet the price-performance ratio best in late 2017, and the negotiations with the U.S. Government were opened on their procurement. The JLTVs will augment and upgrade the car fleet of the corresponding type of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.

The JLTVs are a significant part of the Lithuanian Armed Forces modernisation program, also encompassing procurement of the Vilkas/Boxer infantry fighting vehicles and the PZH 2000 self-propelled artillery systems. The Lithuanian Armed Forces identified a shortage of armoured all-terrain vehicles taking into account potential threats and the need of such vehicles for completing national defence tasks and deploying to multinational operations.

The Oshkosh joint light tactical vehicle (JLTV) was developed by Oshkosh Defence for the US Army and Marine Corps. It is intended to replace the ageing fleet of High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV/Humvee).