Article Posted on : - Feb 24, 2010

A US Army Photo.

WASHINGTON (BNS): The technology development on the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) have begun with three competitive team joining hands in building a light tactical vehicle that will withstand IED attacks, drive quickly through diverse terrain and transport beneath a CH-47 or CH-53 helicopter.

According to a news release by US Army, the three teams awarded contracts for the 27-month TD phase - BAE-Navistar, General Tactical Vehicles, and Lockheed-BAE have incorporated design revisions from their independent preliminary and Critical Design Reviews.

"The Joint and International JLTV programme is one of the first DoD acquisition programs to embrace the principles of
Competitive Prototyping," said Army Colonel John Myers, the project manager for Joint Combat Support Systems, as per the
reports.

Independent Critical Design Reviews will hepl the the Army and Marine Corps to assess the technical maturity of each team's design relative to the TD phase requirements.

The prototypes will undergo 20,000 miles of RAM testing per vehicle. The US Army-Marine Corps JLTV program will produce a fleet of tactical vehicles that can support a range of mission sets.

US Army plans to purchase 55,000 JLTVs and the US Marines plan to buy 5,500.