Prototyping agreements awarded for US Army Common Tactical Truck program.

On January 27, 2023, the U.S. Army announced four Other Transaction Authority agreements to Mack Defense, Navistar Defense, Oshkosh Defense, and the American Rheinmetall Vehicles/GM Defense team totaling $24.25 million. The contractors will provide three prototypes of each variant for the Common Tactical Truck, or CTT, family of vehicles. They will also provide digital designs to go with each variant and a design study for a wrecker. Sam Tricomo, Program Executive Office Combat Support & Combat Service Support, reports.
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The CTT is a Family of Vehicles to replace the M915 Line Haul Tractor and M1088 Medium Tractor; PLS; and HEMTT; leveraging best commercial practices, lower procurement cost (commercial economies of scale) and technology (Drawing: U.S. Army conceptual rendering)

The prototypes will represent their offering for the M915 Line Haul Tractor and M1088 Medium Tractor; Palletized Load System (PLS); and Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT).

The CTT is a Family of Vehicles to replace the M915 Line Haul Tractor and M1088 Medium Tractor; PLS; and HEMTT; leveraging best commercial practices, lower procurement cost (commercial economies of scale) and technology. Vendors will also provide digital designs of all variants and a design study for a wrecker. This rapid prototyping phase aims to inform the Army whether commercially based variants can meet military requirements. The CTT program seeks to mitigate current gaps in driver safety systems, autonomy, fuel consumption and predictive maintenance.

“The CTT effort brings an increased level of standardization to the Army’s Tactical Truck fleet. This effort is reminiscent of the original Liberty Truck, a heavy-duty truck produced by the United States Army during World War I,” said Program Executive Officer Combat Support & Combat Service Support (PEO CS&CSS) Brig. Gen. Samuel L. Peterson.

“It was designed by the Quartermaster Corps with help from the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1917 to help standardize the immense parts catalogue and multiple types of vehicles then in use by the U.S. military. It was the first official standardized motor vehicle adopted and produced by the U.S. military. The CTT program can be viewed as the Liberty Truck of the 21st century, as it will similarly seek to streamline the Army’s supply, maintenance and training requirements.”

According to Wolfgang Petermann, project manager, Transportation Systems, PEO CS&CSS, the CTT program is intended to redesign the fleet to integrate commercial technologies such as advanced driver assist systems, autonomy ready (foundation for future autonomy), fuel efficiency, exportable power as well as prognostics and predictive maintenance. “This approach allows the Army to modernize at the pace of industry, integrating new technologies as they are developed. Additionally, commonality in the CTT 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,” Petermann said.

Evaluation of the initially delivered prototypes is slated to commence at the beginning of 2024. Using the results from the prototype evaluation, the program office, in conjunction with the Army’s Sustainment requirements community, will present the subsequent Capabilities Development Document to the Army Requirements Oversight Council with a decision expected in Fiscal Year 2026.

Assuming approved requirements, the program office will then conduct a full and open competition; requiring offerors to deliver production-representative vehicles for run-off testing leading to a production contract.

Commercial technologies and economies of scale exist that will enable the Army to close technological gaps and address the increasing age of the current Heavy Tactical Vehicle fleet. Now is an opportune time to modernize with a Common Tactical Truck in support of Multi Domain Operations. CTT’s desired characteristics include:
• Drive by wire and active safety
• Mission roles
• Commonality
• Digitization and autonomy ready
• Energy
• Force protection
• Survivability
• Sustainment

The prototypes will represent their offering for the M915 Line Haul Tractor and M1088 Medium Tractor; Palletized Load System (PLS); and Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) (Drawing source: U.S. Army conceptual rendering)