high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, more commonly

known as the Humvee is showing its age. The Humvee was

originally designed to ferry troops around the battlefield in

Europe against the Soviet Union. But it's saw the most action in

the deserts of the Middle East.

You know, the Humvee was designed 35 years ago.

It certainly served our nation well. But as we saw in Iraq and

Afghanistan, it only offers so much protection from roadside

threats. insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan used improvised

explosive devices against American forces as their weapon

of choice. In response, military leaders brought in mine

resistant ambush protected vehicles mraps which could

survive IED blast better than Humvees. But with those wars

winding down, the US military began looking to the future and

what they wanted was a vehicle designed to be both survivable

and capable of light transport.

That's the constant battle with the military it's Do you lose

protection and gain mobility? It's a constant thing with that

the joint light tactical vehicle currently produced by Oshkosh

defense was picked to fill this capability.

This vehicle was designed from the ground up to provide

survivability against threats that no other light vehicle

could ever handle. But will this

new advanced tactical vehicle be the answer for the future of

warfighting?

The am General Humvee with a V eight engine and a top speed of

around 70 miles per hour is an iconic symbol of American might.

The Humvee is an incredible vehicle, but it was really

designed to replace you know, the jeep and a series of light

trucks that the US military was using at the time.

After the invasion of Iraq insurgents began using

improvised explosive devices to attack convoys. because of a

lack of armor and a flat hole. The Humvee became a prime

target.

So early on, guys would literally throw sandbags on the

floor of their Humvees, hoping it would absorb some of the

blast

these improvised explosive devices which were the weapon of

choice for insurgents in both Iraq and Afghanistan. They shoot

these Humvees 20 feet up in the air they

be ripped in half. In the US the outcry over the lack of armor

for these vehicles caused a political backlash over the

failure to give troops needed protection. Some Humvees were up

armored, but the basic design of the Humvee which left it

vulnerable to explosives from below couldn't be fixed.

The American public felt like it was moving too slowly. Congress

felt like it was moving too slowly at the time, too. And in

hindsight, it really was. But the truth is, it was a bit of a

miracle that we were able to get the MRAPS out there and into

operation as fast as we did.

In the scramble to field these mine resistant ambush protected

vehicles. The US military bought several different designs. This

included concepts from base systems Navistar defense and

Oshkosh defense, among others. A few examples of MRAPS are the

cougar six by six, the maxxpro and the lighter M-ATV, which

were all fielded by the US military, the MRAPS were

expensive, some cost over $1 million per unit, and it's many

different designs made logistics much more complicated. These

trucks saved countless lives of US soldiers, but their weight

expense and complexity made them less than ideal for frontline

military service.

The experience in Iraq and Afghanistan resulted in

incremental improvements to the MRAP designs.

They're specifically designed to be blown up and keep the crew

alive inside they they're really high off the ground, they'll

have like V shaped halls, which would send the explosion out.

They're not vehicles that have a lot of versatility to them. They

can't navigate tough terrain very well.

The army and Marines wanted a lighter replacement, which could

handle rough terrain and have better protection than the

Humvee. The idea became the joint light tactical vehicle

jltv.

The jltv combines the protection of the MRAP, which was so

critical in Iraq and Afghanistan with the agility of the Humvee.

I mean, I've driven it you could be you know, with the suspension

system, you could be drinking a cup of coffee, going over

massive bumps and not spill,

the Defense Department started a competition in 2011 to find the

next major land vehicle for the army and Marines. And in 2015,

after years of testing, the Oshkosh defense jltv was chosen

amongst seven other bidders. An initial contract was $6.7

billion was offered with the potential for a follow on

contract with $12.3 billion at the end of 2022. This also means

Oshkosh will have to re compete potentially with companies like

GM defense who expressed interest in the jltv contract

when the renewal period occurs in 2022.

When we won jltv in 2015. There were mega companies that that we

had to compete against. So we expect that they'll there'll be

some of that in this competition as well. We, in 2015, we knew

we'd have to win it again. We knew we knew we'd be facing off

against the normal traditional tactical wheeled vehicle OEMs

and we expected that they would also be another David versus

Goliath I have component to the competition. So I would say

that, you know, we're confident, but we're not overconfident.

The jltv cost per unit was aimed at $250,000 at the program's

inception. Since then, the cost for one Oshkosh defense jltv has

risen to roughly $400,000. Depending on the modifications,

the venerable Humvee will still be around to complement the new

jltv as a low cost option. Originally, the Humvee cost a

bit over $50,000 per unit. However, new Humvees equipped

with new electronics and possibly armor can cost around

$200,000, which is still cheaper than the jltv.

The National Guard uses Humvees to drive into towns responding

to civil disturbance or natural disasters, or their use it

overseas just as stationary fighting positions.

Well, it's important to remember that when you put the Humvee in

the environment that it was intended for. It is an

incredibly capable platform. I've been in Humvees in country

and other countries, and I've seen them do astonishing things

you'll see Humvees dig themselves out of mud pits that

you think were impossible. Meanwhile, more than 13,000

jltv's is have been delivered to the US and international

partners so far and more on the way. According to Oshkosh,

defense is received orders or commitments for the jltv from

eight countries besides the US. The jltv comes in multiple

variants. Some are focused on carrying troops and others are

built for special purpose missions like carrying weapons,

or hauling gear like a traditional truck. One big

advantage of the jltv is the electronics and computers used

to make the vehicle more capable in high tech fights.

One of the things that excites me the most about the jltv is a

Marine Corps program called the Navy Marine Expeditionary ship,

interdiction system or nemesis, Nemesis basically takes the jltv

straps a missile launcher on top and makes the whole platform

autonomous.

I think the jltv looks like it's probably going to be a pretty

capable platform. It really was built with the idea of combining

the best aspects of the Humvee with the best aspects of the

MRAP designs to make one vehicle that could survive in a 21st

century conflict, the

amazing capability of the jltv combined with what's really a

very amazing price for the vehicle have brought just

tremendous international acceptance. There's a wide

variety of companies, countries, some of them asked not to be

named right now. But between Slovenia, Montenegro, Lithuania,

the United Kingdom, Belgium, Brazil, North Macedonia, Middle

Eastern countries. All of these countries are in various stages

of either the foreign military sales process, or the direct

commercial sales process.

The jltv, along with the Humvee will be mainstays of the US

military for years to come. But the army has shown some

intention of lowering the amount of jltv. it intends to procure

in order to divert those funds to other priorities, which

includes modernizing the Humvee fleet. I'm always in favor of

competition within the defense industrial base that makes us

you know, healthier. That being said, I mean, I think as the

incumbent on the jltv program, Oshkosh, defense is best

position for the jltv re compete the electric vehicle revolution

hasn't gone unnoticed by the Pentagon. The US Army has been

exploring battery powered rechargeable vehicles for years.

And if you can take away fueling vehicles, it doesn't sound like

a lot but every everything you take off a soldier's plate will

improve their their combat readiness.

We actually raced a diesel hybrid electric version of our

jltv in the Baja 1000. Way back in 2010.

particularly we're talking about doing distributed Ops, in denied

environments comes with all sorts of questions about you

know, how good our is our technology for recharging

electric vehicles, things like that. So I'm interested in the

technology I always want to push God to be innovating, looking

for more efficient, less costly solutions. So it's just not

something I think we can take off the shelf right now and put

in the field but it is something we should be experimenting with

aggressively