NEWTOWN, Conn. - The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program rolls along, nearing the end of its 33-month engineering and manufacturing development phase. The three competitors - AM General, Lockheed Martin and Oshkosh - are vying for the low-rate initial production contract, which the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command expects to award to a single contractor by the end of this year.

TACOM has rescheduled the Milestone C decision for January 2018. The U.S. Army now expects the JLTV to achieve Initial Operational Capability in 2019.

According to U.S. Department of Defense FY16 budget request documentation (February 2015), the current revised procurement objective stands at 53,582 vehicles - 49,099 vehicles for the U.S. Army and 4,483 vehicles for the U.S. Marine Corps.

Despite the deepening fiscal miasma infecting Washington, the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps still expect LRIP of the JLTV to commence in FY15. TACOM expects the JLTV will now enter full-rate production by FY18. The U.S. GAO estimates the Department of Defense will allocate about $53.5 billion for the JLTV program - $1.082 billion for RDT&E and at least $52.298 billion for procurement.

Given the ongoing economic crisis - with significantly reduced defense budgets throughout the near term of the forecast period - the Forecast International Weapons Group believes that the actual start of full-rate production may slip past the revised 2018 target and extend well beyond the initial eight-year estimate.

Further, we expect that annual JLTV production rates will likely fall well below the initial DoD estimates reflected in the FY16 budget request.

Source: Forecast International Weaspons Group
Associated URL: forecastinternational.com
Author: D. Lockwood, Weapons Systems Analyst