U.S. Joint Light Tactical Vehicle JLTV program's transition into Full-Rate Production.

On Thursday, June 20, 2019, Dr. Bruce Jette, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, approved the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program's transition into Full-Rate Production. The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) is a United States military program that was launched to replace the Humvee light wheeled tactical vehicle with a family of more protected vehicles with greater payload. The JLTV program was approved in 2006 to begin early studies.

Soldiers prepare a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) for use on the cantonment area June 7, 2019, at Fort McCoy, Wis., as part of JLTV training taking place at the installation. (Picture source U.S. DoD)

On 23 August 2012, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps selected the Lockheed Martin JLTV, the Oshkosh L-ATV, and the AM General BRV-O as the winners of the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the competition. The three companies were awarded a contract to build 22 prototype vehicles in 27 months to be judged by the services.

On August 25, 2019, the Company Oshkosh Defense was selected as the winner to produce the JLTV. The JLTV contract award has a value of up to US$6.749 billion and calls for a maximum of 16,901 JLTVs, and includes a sustainment element. JLTV manufacturing will be performed in Oshkosh, WI. Oshkosh CEO, Charles Szews, said the production contract award would involve more than 300 suppliers in 31 states across the United States.

The L-ATV was selected for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) phase. In August 2015, the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) has awarded Oshkosh Defense, LLC, an Oshkosh Corporation company, a $6.7 billion firm fixed price production contract to manufacture the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV).

The JLTV family now consists of three base vehicle platforms, Utility (JLTV-UTL), Close Combat Weapons Carrier (JLTV-CCWC) and General Purpose (JLTV-GP). The Utility base vehicle platform is a two-door configuration, the General Purpose and Close Combat Weapons Carrier base vehicle platforms are a four-door configuration. Standard U.S. military M-designators are applied base vehicle platforms when outfitted to a specific Mission Package Configuration.

The JLTV family includes the M1278 Heavy Guns Carrier, General Purpose (JLTV-GP) base vehicle platform in Heavy Guns Carrier Mission Package Configuration, the M1279 Utility (JLTV-UTL) base vehicle platform in Utility Mission Package Configuration, thee M1280 General Purpose (JLTV-GP) base vehicle platform in General Purpose Mission Package Configuration and the M1281 Close Combat Weapons Carrier (JLTV-CCWC) base vehicle platform in Close Combat Weapons Carrier Mission Package Configuration.