Humvee Replacement Faces 6-Month Delay

U.S. defense department officials are saying that the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program to replace the venerable Humvee is expected to be six months late. That means that the JLTV won’t reach initial operational capability in mid-2019 as planned. Late 2019 is now the target date.

Oshkosh Corp. (NYSE: OSK) is building the new JLTV after besting Humvee maker AMC General and Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) to win the $6.7 billion contract last fall.

According to a report at Defense News, the delay is primarily due to disruption to the program following Lockheed’s protest of the award to Oshkosh. Work stopped for more than three months during the protest period, at which time Lockheed withdrew its protest and filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

The Pentagon gave Oshkosh the go-ahead to recommence work on the program in December while the suit was in process. Lockheed withdrew its lawsuit in February.
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The contract calls for 16,901 JLTVs for the Army and the Marine Corps, and Defense Department officials have indicated that the total purchase could run as high as 55,000 vehicles. The Pentagon bought more than 280,000 Humvees over its 30-year-plus life span.

An Army spokesman said that despite the delay, the Army “remains on a remarkable path to deliver all of its anticipated vehicles to Soldiers and Marines roughly five years earlier than previously anticipated and at a significantly reduced cost than previously planned.”

When the contract was awarded the total cost for the program was estimated at around $30 billion over the lifetime of the JLTV. That total has now dropped to $24.7 billion.