The USMC is expected to publish the JLTV request for proposal (RFP) at the beginning of the coming year, and select manufacturers for the new family of vehicles by the end of March 2008. Initial operational capability originally scheduled for 2010 was recently pushed back to 2012, as the services are focused on the acquisition of heavier and more urgently needed MRAP in the near term. However, all officials are stating that JLTV and MRAP are two different vehicles, providing for different missions. While MRAP is addressing more urgent gaps in force protection, JLTV is fulfilling current and future requirements for all-terrain tactical mobility, maneuverability, sustainability as well as air transportation and strategic mobility (including sealift).There's plenty more to read as well as a number of photos of thus-far poorly publicized military vehicles.
(Defense Update)
Another page dealing with the same event (Modern Day Marine) featured brief reviews of PVIs "Protector" and Force Protection's "Cheetah." Functional testing should rightly determine which vehicle is better--one trade-off from the listed specs caught my eye: The Cheetah has a longer cruising range (by 200 miles) while the Protector is listed as slightly faster (70 mph versus 65 mph).
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please remain on topic and keep coarse language to an absolute minimum. Comments in a language other than English will be assumed off topic.