Humvee replacement program to begin next month (200-250k/per vehicle)

[The Straight Story]

Humvee replacement program to begin next month
By Greg Grant [e-mail] January 18, 2008

The Army and Marine Corps plan to invite manufacturers to submit competing proposals to build the follow-on vehicle to the ubiquitous Humvee at the end of January, in what is expected to be one of the largest-ever vehicle acquisition programs.

The Army said at least two firms will be selected in June to build the prototypes for the follow-on, dubbed the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, followed by a 27-month-long technology demonstration period. The Army then will award contracts to two firms to proceed with a vehicle development and demonstration phase, at the conclusion of which the service will select a single manufacturer to begin production.

Production is expected to begin in the 2012-2013 period. But according to the Army Tank and Automotive Command JLTV Web site, at the conclusion of the technology demonstration, if one of the prototype vehicles demonstrates proven technology, it may be selected to begin immediate production. The command will hold a pre-proposal conference for industry in Warren, Mich., Feb. 19-21.

Language in the 2008 Defense authorization bill said that while the conferees strongly support the JLTV program, it restricts the Pentagon from beginning production until the technology is proven to be reliable and the program is deemed affordable. The target cost per vehicle is $200,000 to $250,000, according to a May 2006 Office of Naval Research JLTV industry day conference finding. An armored Humvee costs around $150,000.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39069&dcn=todaysnews

[tabasco]

1. The jeep worked for us for fifty years.

The humvee 20 years. Profiteering is accelerating.

[jmowreader]

3. Don't rhapsodize over the fucking M151A2 Jeep

Oh God, what an unsafe piece of SHIT that vehicle was. Drive it 36 miles per hour and the vehicle gets REAL unstable.

I have two war stories about Jeeps.

The first concerns a field training exercise we went on in Korea. The 209th MI had twenty jeeps, twenty M886 pickups (the old Dodge Power Wagons with 318 engines...we always said you could get an 880 stuck on a dry road and I did it twice) and a couple of M35A2 deuce-and-a-halves. Thanks to the Jeeps, we had to drive the 175 miles from Seoul to Taegu at 35mph. Jeeps also get shitty gas mileage (they burn gas, which is the real reason the army got rid of them; the Army wants to remove all gasoline-powered equipment from its inventory, but unfortunately the diesel chainsaw has yet to be invented) so we wound up driving all day to get from point A to point B.

The other I'm not ready to tell you yet.

[tabasco]

4. I was in the infantry for ten years.

The jeeps worked pretty well for us.

Of course, we used them in the bush, not out on the highways.

The humvee worked well too. Wouldn't go between trees as easy as the jeep but a hell of a lot more power.

I wonder why they are replacing the humvee.

I've done 60 mph in an M880. Hitched a ride on one in Germany and it flew down the autobahn.

[ileus]

2. God bless the Jeep.