Vanguard Magazine

The mine-resistant, ambush protected tactical vehicle is replacing the Humvee in the U.S., but can it fill Canada's need for Next Generation Fighting Vehicles as well? t talkIng TECH Does the haVe a pLace in the canaDian aRmy? 38 DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com f or three decades the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) commonly called the Humvee has been the mainstay of the United States military's light utility vehicle fleet. The U.S. Army, however, is now in the process of replacing the popu- lar vehicle with Oshkosh Defence's Light Combat Tactical All- Terrain Vehicle (L-ATV). Replacing the Jeep in 1984 the Humvee proved itself on the field but as the U.S. military got more deeply involved in a series of conflicts in the Middle East, the vehicle proved to be no match to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) favoured by enemy forces in the Iraq War. As casualties mounted, the idea of a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) emerged in 2007. By August 2015, the Army announced the Oshkosh L-ATV as the winner of the JLTV program. Lockheed Martin, one of the contenders in the program, has filed a protest against the decision awarding Oshkosh with the contract to replace the Humvee. However, on Dec. 15, the Gov- ernment Accountability Office dismissed the protest and Osh- kosh is now resuming work to fulfill the $6.75 billion to produce 16,901 vehicles for the Army and Marines. The unit cost of a base L-ATV comes up to about $250,000. Units with radios, weapons and armour cost around $400,000 to $560,000 each depending on the configuration. By comparison, an up-armoured Humvee costs around $220,000. Built like a tank, runs like a jeep Tank-like is probably the best word to describe the Oshkosh L- ATV. With a curb weight of 6,400 kg, it is more than twice as heavy as an up-armoured Humvee that weighs in at 2,676 kg. The L-ATV will come in two variations, four-passenger combat vehicles and two-seat combat support vehicles. The L-ATV carries a maximum weight of 7093 kg, one third less than the M-ATV and light enough to be transported by a helicopter. The L-ATV protects its crew with a system called Core1080 which includes IED detection features, mine resistance capabili- by nestor arellano John Bryant, senior vice president of defence programs for Oshkosh.

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