Australian Bushmaster gets a leg up...

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gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
This comes compliments of a pull from SP initially posted by AMPT10E.

JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY - SEPTEMBER 14, 2005


Oshkosh Truck markets ADI Bushmaster


SHAUN CONNORS JDW Editor, Jane's Military Vehicles and Logistics
London

* The marketing agreement for the Bushmaster primarily covers North America and countries covered by Foreign Military Sales

* Oshkosh has also produced prototypes for a new tactical truck range

Oshkosh Truck of the US recently disclosed to JDW that the company is marketing the ADI Bushmaster infantry mobility vehicle.

In a separate announcement the company also disclosed that it has produced a number of prototypes of a new tactical truck range: the Medium Tactical Truck (MTT).

The Bushmaster was purpose-designed for mine- and blast- resistance and throughout its design process considerable attention was paid to high levels of troop safety and operational comfort in hot/tropical climates. These and other factors, including the well-thought out ergonomics of the base vehicle design, contribute to the suitability of the Bushmaster for a considerable number of the protected troop transport/convoy escort-type requirements being generated by the situation in Iraq.

The Bushmaster is in volume production for the Australian Army and has been deployed operationally to East Timor and Iraq, with Oshkosh Truck offering logistic support for those Bushmasters deployed to Iraq.

The marketing agreement between Oshkosh Truck and ADI for the Bushmaster primarily covers North America and those countries covered by Foreign Military Sales. Volume dependant, Bushmaster could be manufactured by Oshkosh in the US and - to reduce procurement costs, increase local content and provide greater fleet commonality - could utilise Oshkosh-produced components such as the TAK-4 independent suspension and/or locally sourced driveline components such as an Allison automatic transmission.

Offering a variant of ADI's High Mobility Engineering Vehicle (HMEV), Oshkosh teamed with ADI to bid for the US Army's estimated, 500-vehicle High Mobility Engineering Excavator (HMEE) requirement, a contract award for which is anticipated by the end of 2005. In conjunction with ADI, Oshkosh is one of nine contractors shortlisted for Project Overlander (Land 121), Australia's light vehicle, truck and trailer replacement programme.

Following discussions with a number of established customers Oshkosh Truck commenced development earlier in 2005 of the MTT range. Designed for tactical roles, the range covers 4 x 4 and 6 x 6 chassis and combines components of Oshkosh's heavy-duty construction trucks (cab and suspension being examples) and purpose-designed severe-duty military trucks (chassis, body and cooling package being examples) such as the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) and Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT), with readily available commercial driveline components supplied by the likes of Allison, Caterpillar, Cummins and Eaton. The result, according to the company, is a truck with levels of mobility, performance and durability close to those of a purpose-designed military truck but at a price closer to that of a militarised commercial truck.

Established Oshkosh truck users in a number of countries are evaluating the prototype MTTs.

Oshkosh Truck is producing the MTVR for the US marines and navy. Around 6,000 examples have been manufactured to date and under current contracts production will continue will continue until Fiscal Year 2010. Under the US Army's Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles contract awarded in 2001, Oshkosh is delivering new-build M977 series HEMTTs and M1075 PLS (Palletised Load System) trucks and M1076 PLS trailers, is remanufacturing service-worn HEMTTs and is refurbishing service-worn PLS trucks and trailers and M1070 HETs.

The FHTV contract is worth in excess of USD1 billion and if all options are exercised calls for approximately 5,398 new trucks, 1,100 new trailers and the continued remanufacture/refurbishment of trucks and trailers under an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract.

Additionally, Oshkosh Truck is one of two bidders (the other being American Truck Company) competing to replace the US marines' Oshkosh-supplied MK-48 Logistic Vehicle System. Each company supplied three prototype vehicles earlier in 2005; a contract award is due mid-2006.

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C

cherry

Banned Member
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO: The Marine Corps is searching for a larger, more capable combat transport to replace the Humvee.

The Fires and Maneuver Integration Division of Marine Corps Combat Development Command is outlining the requirements for its future vehicle, dubbed the Combat Tactical Vehicle, with the goal of fielding the first CTVs in 2011.

Kevin M. McConnell, deputy director of the Fires and Maneuver Integration Division, said the Humvee, while a battle-proven tactical vehicle, is beginning to show its limitations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The Humvee A2 is a great vehicle, [but] it has outlived its usefulness,” said McConnell. “We have added very capable armor to the Humvees in Iraq. But for every pound of armor you add, that’s a pound less capable the vehicle is. We have done a lot of modifications to the vehicle, and it’s at the end of its capabilities. There is just no more you can do for that vehicle.”

McConnell said among the improvements is the requirement that the CTV accommodate up to six Marines with their existence loads and three days of food, water and ammunition.

The current Humvee, including up-armored versions, normally seats four Marines or less.

“As we go into the future, we know we have to plan for a couple of things,” said McConnell. “We have to plan for increased mobility of the ground combat element, and we need to plan for (heavier) payloads. The first configuration we want to build is a people mover, not a fighting vehicle. It will take six guys with three days of supplies and be able to perform like a BMW on the Autobahn.”

McConnell said the requirements for the CTV, including its ability to transport six combat-ready Marines, supports Operational Maneuver From the Sea and Distributed Operations, as well as the Marine Corps’ capstone concept, Seabasing,.

“The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, the EFV, holds 17 people, a reinforced rifle squad,” said McConnell. “Three CTVs would hold a reinforced rifle squad. It supports our Distributed Operations concept. It allows that type of unit to be tactically employed. We figured out a way to divide a reinforced squad into packages. Why didn’t we make it a 17 person vehicle?

One, it would be a big vehicle. Two, if you take out that vehicle, you take out 17 people. You split them up into more vehicles and you increase the survivability of the team itself.”

The CTV combines a laundry list of requirements, drawn in large part from the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned and the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, and responds to the needs of the modern warfighter.

“There is nothing better than a war to validate ideas,” said McConnell. “All of the requirements that we have built into this are traceable back to something that somebody, from lance corporal to colonel, who has been to Iraq or Afghanistan or both, has told me or one of the guys in the division.”

McConnell said the Marine Corps is working with the Army, Navy, Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Command to identify joint requirements that could help turn the CTV into a joint endeavor.

“The requirements for (the Army’s concept) vehicle line up pretty closely with CTV,” said McConnell. “In the end, we and the Army are working very hard to make this a joint program. There are a lot of efficiencies in doing this with one vehicle, both in production and in lifecycle management.”

According to McConnell, the Marine Corps has an inventory of about 20,000 Humvees, while the Army has more than 120,000.

By December, McConnell said his team hopes to have a solid draft of an initial capabilities document to present to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and the Marine Requirements Oversight Council, the next step in the process for the CTV.

“I intend to have a very good draft of that in December to begin socializing the vehicle and its requirements in the Marine Corps and the other services,” said McConnell. “Why we’re doing this now is because no time in the last 20 or 30 years have we had such a wealth of information coming in about what the Marine Corps’ needs to run a war. Now is the best time to make it happen.”

http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_004010.php
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Do you think Bushmaster may have a chance of replacing the Hummer in this role? I think with the proliferation of IEDs, land mines and RPGs, vehicles such as Bushmaster will be used more often and the standard 4x4s and even "up-arnmoured" 4x4s will be a thing of the past.
 
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