U.S. soldiers and Marines will finish testing the JLTV Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Thursday, April 17, 2018 at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center here. The JLTV program fills a critical capability gap for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps by replacing a large portion of the legacy HMMWV fleet with a light tactical vehicle with far superior protection and off-road mobility.

Marines with Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Twentynine Palms, Calif., run a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) down the road during JLTV operational testing at Twentynine Palms' Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. (Picture source U.S. MoD)

U.S. soldiers from Bravo Troop, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division joined with Marines of Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, to run the JLTV through its paces by conducting real-world missions in an operational environment as realistic as Iraq or Afghanistan.

Testing began late February, and according to Randall G. Fincher, JLTV test officer with the U.S. Army Operational Test Command, 39 JLTVs in two variants of Combat Tactical Vehicle and Combat Support Vehicle were split, with 18 going to the Marines and 21 to the Army test units.

In August 2015, the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) has awarded Oshkosh Defense, LLC, an Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE: OSK) company, a $6.7 billion firm fixed price production contract to manufacture the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV).

The JLTV program provides protected, sustained and networked light tactical mobility for American troops across the full spectrum of military operations and missions anywhere in the world. The JLTV production contract awarded to Oshkosh includes a base contract award and eight option years covering three years of LRIP and five years of FRP. Oshkosh will begin delivering vehicles approximately ten months after contract award.

The JLTV family now consists of three base vehicle platforms, Utility (JLTV-UTL), Close Combat Weapons Carrier (JLTV-CCWC) and General Purpose (JLTV-GP). The Utility base vehicle platform is a two-door configuration, the General Purpose and Close Combat Weapons Carrier base vehicle platforms are a four-door configuration. Standard U.S. military M-designators are applied base vehicle platforms when outfitted to a specific Mission Package Configuration.

The JLTV variants for U.S army and Marine Corps include:
- M1278 Heavy Guns Carrier: General Purpose (JLTV-GP) base vehicle platform in Heavy Guns Carrier Mission Package Configuration
- M1279 Utility: Utility (JLTV-UTL) base vehicle platform in Utility Mission Package Configuration
- M1280 General Purpose: General Purpose (JLTV-GP) base vehicle platform in General Purpose Mission Package Configuration
- M1281 Close Combat Weapons Carrier: Close Combat Weapons Carrier (JLTV-CCWC) base vehicle platform in Close Combat Weapons Carrier Mission Package Configuration