Back to news

October 7, 2019 | International, Land

A New NATO Buyer For JLTV; More Buyers On The Way?

The sale to Montenegro might be small, but the US push into the Balkans will not make Moscow happy.

By

WASHINGTON: In a sign the floodgates may be opening for allies to buy the Army's newest tactical vehicle, the US appears to be finalizing a $36 million agreement with Montenegro to sell them dozens of brand-new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.

The tipoff came this morning when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is visiting the country, said the US “offered an agreement to Montenegro for the largest sale of military equipment in the history between our two nations. The United States looks forward to delivering $36 million worth of light tactical vehicles to our NATO ally once this agreement is finalized.”

A defense official confirmed the deal is for 67 Oshkosh-made JLTVs.

If the deal goes through, Montenegro would become the fourth NATO ally to express interest or actually buy into the program, though so far Lithuania is the only country to receive US approval after the State Department signed off on a $170 million deal with the Baltic nation for 500 JLTVs in August.

Mike Ivy, Oshkosh's senior VP for international programs, wouldn't comment on the Montenegro deal, but told me via email the “JLTV was intended from the beginning to be an international program,” pointing out the common systems on the vehicle make it easier for allies to work together in the field.

A vastly larger sale is in the works with the UK, which is considering buying 2,747 JLTVs as part of its Multi Role Vehicle-Protected program. British Army officials acknowledged for the first time earlier this month that Oshkosh has been working on a UK variant. In October 2018, Slovenia also signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for 38 JLTVs, though no deal has been finalized.

Montenegro joined NATO in 2017, and is a critical part of the Balkan region's slow turn away from their Russian-dominated past, which Washington and NATO have taken pains to nurture. “It is of strategic importance for Montenegro to have US and EU presence in the Balkans so there would be no space for those countries who do not share the same values,” Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said alongside Pompeo Friday.

Like so many DoD programs, the JLTV has had an exceptionally long and checkered past. The effort kicked off in 2006, eventually enduring a series of fits and starts before being forced to undergo a full requirements overhaul in 2011 after the Army realized the design would need to change to meet demands beyond those of counterinsurgency warfare.

In 2015, Oshkosh was awarded a $6.7 billion contract for the initial 16,901 vehicles. In June the Army declared the JLTV was finally ready for full production, clearing the way for the sale of the truck to allies.

Although the program spent 13 years churning through the development cycle, the JLTV has recently come under fire from the Army for being built for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and not the potential conflicts of tomorrow against peer adversaries like China and Russia.

In April, then-Army Secretary and now Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the JLTV, like the Chinook helicopter, was “designed for a different conflict,” but could still play a role on the battlefield. That shot came around the same time that the service slashed $800 million from its planned JLTV purchases, which translates to at least 1,500 vehicles over the next five years. The cut is only a dent in the massive program's armor, however. The Army has not backed off plans to acquire almost 50,000 JLTVs over the life of the program, which will run into the 2030s.

The Marine Corps is also slated to buy about 9,100 JLTVs in the coming years.

The Army and Marine Corps are planning to buy four versions of the truck, a general purpose model, a turreted gun truck, a TOW anti-tank missile launcher and a two-door utility variant, basically a militarized pickup truck.

https://breakingdefense.com/2019/10/a-new-nato-buyer-for-jltv-more-buyers-on-the-way

On the same subject

  • Meet the new hybrid tank competing for serial production in Turkey

    February 1, 2021 | International, Land

    Meet the new hybrid tank competing for serial production in Turkey

    By: Burak Ege Bekdil ANKARA, Turkey — A Turkish-Qatari armored vehicles manufacturer has unveiled a hybrid tank that combines the hull of a German Leopard 2A4 with a Turkish-made turret in an effort to win a serial production contract. The tank was displayed by BMC on Jan. 23 to a high-profile delegation including Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and top military brass. A BMC official said the company hopes to win a serial production/upgrade contract from the Turkish government for the hybrid tank. He added that serial production would involve more than 300 Leopard tanks receiving the hybrid upgrade. “If the military command decides to order mass production, we will start the work immediately,” he said. BMC hopes the hybrid model will become combat-proven after entering the Turkish military's inventory. “That will pave the way for similar upgrades on hundreds of Leopards in different parts of the world,” the company official said. “Export potential is bigger than the Turkish contract.” The hybrid Leopard is equipped with Turkish-made active protection, fire control and laser warning systems. It combines the chassis of the iconic German tank with the turret of the locally developed Altay, which includes a 120mm smoothbore gun. A source with knowledge of the hybrid program told Defense News the contract is estimated to be worth “several hundreds of millions of dollars.” The tank will not be a substitute to the multibillion-dollar Altay program. Under that effort, Turkey plans to build 1,000 units of the new-generation main battle tank. BMC won the serial production contract for the Altay, but the program has struggling over the past few years as Turkey continues its search for an imported power pack (engine and transmission system). Most recently BMC started negotiations with South Korea's Hyundai-Rotem for a power pack for the Altay after talks failed with German suppliers, among a number of other companies. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2021/01/29/meet-the-new-hybrid-tank-competing-for-serial-production-in-turkey

  • BAE Systems Tests Battle Management System in ACVs, As Company Mulls Future Upgrades and Variants - USNI News

    May 19, 2021 | International, Land

    BAE Systems Tests Battle Management System in ACVs, As Company Mulls Future Upgrades and Variants - USNI News

    The amphibious combat vehicle’s open architecture design is already allowing builder BAE Systems to experiment with adding in new combat capabilities, even as the company continues to ponder potential variants it could offer down the road. For the time being, the Marine Corps has asked BAE Systems to build about 700 ACVs to replace the …

  • BAE Systems awarded £270 million Royal Navy radar contract

    June 12, 2023 | International, Naval, C4ISR

    BAE Systems awarded £270 million Royal Navy radar contract

    Every major Royal Navy ship from the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers to the Type 45 destroyers feature at least one of these systems which are designed and built by...

All news