Humvee replacement process

The Humvee replacement process, undertaken by the U.S. Military is an effort to replace the current AM General Humvee multi-purpose motor vehicle. The Humvee has evolved several times since its introduction in 1984, and is now used in tactical roles for which it was not originally intended.^[1] The U.S. Military is currently pursuing several initiatives to replace it, both in the short and long term. The short-term replacement efforts utilize Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicles, while the long-term efforts currently focus on building requirements for the Humvee replacement and technology research and evaluation in the form of various prototype vehicles.

Short term

International MaxxPro Category 1 MRAP

In the short term, Humvees that were in service in Iraq are being replaced by Category 1 MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) armored vehicles, primarily the Force Protection Cougar H and the International MaxxPro.^[2] The United States Marine Corps plans to replace all Humvees patrolling "outside the wire" with MRAP vehicles. The U.S. military began procuring a lighter vehicle under the MRAP All Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) program in 2009.^[3]

Long term

The Combat Tactical Vehicle, a prototype Joint Light Tactical Vehicle

The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), a joint effort between the United States Army, USSOCOM, and the United States Marine Corps to build a replacement for the Humvee in its role as a tactical vehicle has submitted an Initial Capabilities Document, and is seeking the approval of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Following that approval, they will begin to build a requirements list with the assistance and input of the FTTS program and the Office of Naval Research among others.^[4][5]

The Office of Naval Research has selected General Dynamics Land Systems and Oshkosh Corporation to build Joint Light Tactical Vehicle mock-ups and conceptual designs, modeling and simulation to provide trade off analysis for the evaluation of future development of such vehicles.^[5] It would be a family of light armored wheeled vehicles with combat capability to provide more protection than the Humvee.

International FTTS UV Concept

The U.S. Military was seeking a long term replacement for the Humvee under the Future Tactical Truck Systems (FTTS) program, which was seeking to introduce a Maneuver Sustainment Vehicle and a Utility Vehicle. Navistar International and Lockheed Martin's proposals for the Utility Vehicle were selected for competition as well as the Armor Holdings proposal for the Maneuver Sustainment Vehicle.^[4] In August 2006 they were tested at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Following this evaluation they were parked in The Pentagon courtyard for evaluation by higher ranking military officials.

The Office of Naval Research has also funded several projects to research other technologies that may be implemented on the Humvee replacement, including the Shadow RST-V and Georgia Tech's ULTRA AP, a combat concept vehicle based on the F350 chassis, but with a "blast bucket" passenger compartment, and Ultra 3T, a project with more advanced (but unproven) technologies.

In early 2011, DARPA initiated the eXperimental Crowd-derived Combat-support Vehicle (XC2V) Design Challenge to find a replacement design for the Humvee for which Local Motors served as a hub for the challenge. The challenge specifically aims for a Combat Reconnaissance and Combat Delivery & Evacuation vehicle.^[6][7] The design entries were open for voting on March 4th.^[8] On June 27, a Local Motors XC2V was premiered at Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center in Pittsburgh with President Obama attending.^[9] On June 28, 2011, DARPA announced the selection of Local Motors’ XC2V FLYPMode as the winner of the competition. It was selected among 162 entries.^[9][10] The XC2V went on to compete with vehicles from TARDEC's FED program such as British Ricardo's FED ALPHA^[11] which appears to have been selected over FED BETA.^[12]

U.S. Army

The Army issued a request for information for a Humvee recapitalization program in January 2010. The Army asked Congress to shift funds from procuring Humvees to recapitalizing aging Humvees. This request was denied. A second request for information is planned and would be followed up by a request for proposals.

No Humvee procurements are planned beyond 2012. The Army's 260,000 truck fleet is planned to be reduced by 15 percent by fiscal year 2017.^[13]

U.S. Marines

The United States Marine Corps planned to replace all Humvees patrolling "outside the wire" with MRAP vehicles. The Marines are reducing their fleet of Humvees from 44,000 to 32,500.^[14] The current plan is to reduce the Marine's fleet of light tactical vehicles from 24,600 to 18,500 by 2017. The planned end state is to have 3,500 A2 series Humvees, 9,500 ECV Humvees, and 5,500 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.^[15]

References