AM General’s delivery of initial Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, or JLTVs, to the U.S. Army has been delayed by six months, according to a program spokesperson with the service, due to challenges starting up a new production line.
“In addition to normal start of production headwinds, the transition from an incumbent vendor has presented unique challenges for AM General related to sourcing directed parts, intellectual property, tooling and part qualification,” the spokesperson from Program Executive Office Combat Support and Combat Systems Support told Defense News in an interview.
“AM General is proactively addressing these issues, however, a six-month schedule adjustment to the initial delivery orders will be required to safeguard quality and manufacturing readiness requirements.”
AM General upset JLTV-maker Oshkosh in the Army’s new competition to build more of the vehicles in February 2023, winning a contract valued at $8.66 billion. Oshkosh won the original 2015 competition to build JLTV, beating out AM General and Lockheed Martin.
Oshkosh protested the decision with the Government Accountability Office in March 2023, but the GAO denied the incumbent’s protest in June 2023.
According to a redacted copy of the protest obtained by Defense News, Oshkosh contended the Army took “glaring risks” by selecting AM General, noting the company had “zero experience manufacturing the JLTV” and “by its own admission, must build out its own facilities before it can start production.”
Additionally, the protest states that AM General “lacks the existing supplier relations needed to manufacture the JLTV.”
AM General was given 18 months to begin building new JLTVs – equating to a rough start time of August 2024 – but that has slipped by half a year.
The Army noted the “schedule adjustment also provides an opportunity for the vehicle baseline to ‘catch-up’ due to its configuration freezing in 2022 to support the contract recompete effort.”
AM General is incorporating all required configuration changes, to include hardware and software, into the initial production of its JLTV variant that will “minimize” retrofitting activities and add capability to the vehicle, the Army spokesperson said.
The new variant will be quieter, have greater fuel efficiency, a higher degree of corrosion resistance, and “a more robust” electrical architecture, the spokesperson said, and numerous lessons learned are also being incorporated into AM General’s version, known as the A2, that will improve operational tempo rates and realize sustainment savings over the vehicle’s planned 30-year life.
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee’s version of the defense spending bill would reduce the Army’s fiscal 2025 budget of $653 million by $119 million due to the JLTV production schedule delays.
“The JLTV program is fully prepared to execute the FY25 budget position and will continue to meet all its program, fielding, and integration requirements while delivering an estimated $1 billion in savings over the life of the contract,” the spokesperson said.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.
