10th Mountain Division US Army first unit to receive JLTV 11806171

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Defense & Security News - United States
 
The 10th Mountain Division will be the first unit to receive new JLTV Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.
An U.S. infantry brigade combat team of the 10th Mountain Division will be the first unit to get the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, or JLTVs, around January 2019 once full-rate production kicks in, said Col. Shane Fullmer.
     
An U.S. infantry brigade combat team of the 10th Mountain Division will be the first unit to get the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, or JLTVs, around January 2019 once full-rate production kicks in, said Col. Shane Fullmer.
A Joint Light Tactical Vehicle does a demonstration run around Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., June 14, 2017. (Photo Credit: David Vergun)
     
The brigade will receive 500 JLTVs on a one-for-one replacement of the unit's current fleet of Humvees, he said.

Officials said that a total of about 100 JLTVs are being provided this year by Oshkosh Defense, the maker of the vehicle, at a low-rate initial production of about 10 per month to the Army and Marine Corps for testing.

The full suite of testing includes command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; reliability qualification; and live-fire, according to a chart provided at the media roundtable.

The Army plans to purchase at least 50,000 JLTVs and the Marine Corps so far plans to buy about 5,500 for a total cost to both services of about $24 billion, with production extending over the course of 20 years, according to Army officials.
     
An U.S. infantry brigade combat team of the 10th Mountain Division will be the first unit to get the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, or JLTVs, around January 2019 once full-rate production kicks in, said Col. Shane Fullmer.
(Photo Credit: David Vergun US Army website)
     
Four variants of the JLTV will be produced including general purpose, close-combat weapons carrier, heavy gun carrier and utility. Of those four variants, each comes in two door or four door options.

The two-seaters have an extended bed and are built to carry up to 5,100 pounds of supplies, he said. The four-seaters carry about 3,500 pounds, including four Soldiers seated and a fifth manning the weapons turret.

Weapons that can be carried in the JLTV include .50-caliber machine guns, Mk-19 grenade launchers and TOW missiles, he noted.

Requirements for the JLTV production included the ability to be airlifted by CH-47 or CH-53 helicopters and to have a similar footprint as the Humvee so they'd fit inside the decks of amphibious ships, Fullmer said.

The first item that a driver will notice is the floating suspension, which can be adjusted. So for example, if the vehicle is in a 30-degree incline, the driver can flatten out the suspension to level the vehicle.
Also, the operator has a display that shows the condition of the vehicle, including the engine, transmission and suspension.