Gunner Protection Kit from HMMWVs mounted on US Marines JLTV

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As a cost-savings measure, U.S. Marines removed Gunner’s Protection Kit from HMMWVs and installed on Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV). A harvesting effort by Program Executive Officer Land Systems and Marine Corps Systems Command could save the Corps millions and make one of its newest vehicles more survivable.

Gunner Protection Kit from HMMWVs mounted on US Marines JLTV 925 001
Logisticians and equipment specialists from Marine Corps Systems Command and Program Executive Officer Land Systems install a Marine Corps Transparent Armor Gun Shield on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle May 1. (Picture source U.S. Marine Corps photo by Kristen Murphy)

The installation is part of a cost-savings plan to harvest Gunner’s Protection Kits and other equipment from older High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles and increase the JLTV’s survivability.

In the spring, logisticians and other program personnel from Infantry Weapons conducted a Proof of Principle, or PoP, going step by step through the process of removing a Marine Corps Transparent Armor Gun Shield—part of the GPK family of systems—from a HMMWV and placing it on a JLTV. The MCTAGS will be installed on the Heavy Guns Carrier JLTV variant.

The PoP will help the program office develop, verify and publish a modification instruction to guide the Corps through the installation process, said Kevin Marion, a logistics management specialist in Infantry Weapons.

The JLTV program office has completed similar PoP efforts with the Improved TOW GPK, or I-TGPK, which will be installed on the Close Combat Weapons Carrier variant of the JLTV. The CCWC can be armed with TOW—tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided—missiles.

The JLTV is an Army-led light tactical vehicle program. It will partially replace the Army and Marine Corps HMMWV fleet, providing a more survivable vehicle, and closing an existing gap in payload, performance and protection. The JLTV comes in four variants with payloads ranging from 3,500 to 5,100 pounds of cargo, and can go more than 70 miles per hour as well as traverse over arduous terrain.

Fielding for the JLTV will begin in spring 2019 to the Marine Corps School of Infantry-West at Camp Pendleton, California; School of Infantry-East at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; The Basic School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia; and Motor Transport Maintenance Instructional Company at Camp Johnson, North Carolina. Fielding to the operating forces will begin in the summer of 2019. In all, the Army plans to purchase 49,000 JLTVs and the Marine Corps will purchase 9,091.