| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front Economy |
| Race is on to replace Humvee |
| 2008-06-22 |
| Stakes are high—maybe $40 billion—for teams competing to build military vehicle With the hard-working Humvee showing its age, Uncle Sam is preparing to buy a new ride for America's soldiers. That has touched off a hard-fought competition, with a dozen companies working in six teams to vie for the right to build the military's next-generation tactical vehicle. That list is scheduled to be cut in half next month, with the survivors entering a new phase lasting more than two years. For the competitors—among them Warrenville-based Navistar International Corp. and Chicago aerospace giant Boeing Co.—the stakes are high: The contract to build the vehicle, to be known as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV, is expected to generate tens of billions of dollars in sales spread out over a decade or more. 'Whoever wins this is in line to make one hell of a lot of money,' said Dean Lockwood, an analyst with Newton, Conn., defense research firm Forecast International. The competition is still in its early stages and pricing issues remain open, but estimates from some participants that the contract could eventually generate $40 billion or more in sales are 'reasonable,' he said. By comparison, the controversial multiyear contract for the next-generation tanker jet involving Boeing is worth $35 billion. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #13 I saw some of the purported sepcs for the diesel electric. Each wheel individually driven, each can have up to max power availble to it. Oshkosh is building the body and drives, NG is bringing in submarine guys for diesel electric. Has someone from Israel alledgedly working armor, and some working on amphib/fording capability. No battery storage though. Weight. But it woudl be kinda cool to have one of those with batteries that will run the drives for, say 15 minutes, dead silent. All kinds of tactical advantages I can think of. If nothing else, it will be among the most unique vehicles there in that it brings generation power wherever it goes. Big advantage there for command post vehicles, as well as FBO. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-06-22 21:34 |
| #12 "Showing its age" > COMPARED TO WHAT, the 0.45-cal. 1911, BAR, the 105, 120, 155, the LAW, DRAGON, HUEY, COBRA, M113 Series, ...... .....@etc. + OH I DUNNO, the JEEP [WW2-Cold War]??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-06-22 19:24 |
| #11 Bantum Motors, where are you when we need you? |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-06-22 19:18 |
| #10 How about instead of counting their big dollars before they design and buiold the vehicle they discuss how they will build a faster, more dependable, and IED resistant vehicle to keep our young men and women alive in combat. It's the Chicago Tribune. The attitude is 'look at how much money Illinois could make from the military-industrial-complex-usually-reviled-by-us'. The survivability aspect doesn't get mentioned until the ninth paragraph. Too much government contracting has become a huge game of 'how much can we get?', rather than 'What kind of first-class equipment can we supply at a reasonable price?'. You can thank a combination of politics, the legal system and industrial consolidation for that. Notice that many of these companies are teaming up with other corporations. Not because they can build a new vehicle, but because they are experts in managing defense contracts. When the government issues a few, long-term, highly politicized, long-term contracts fraught with legal pitfalls to a low-population defense industry, would you expect the price to be reasonable? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-06-22 17:43 |
| #9 BP, the surviving ones will still claim it, even if it isn't theirs. They claim everything else. All that glassed-over sand will just become the 999,999th Most Holy Place in Islam. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2008-06-22 17:07 |
| #8 Make it radiologically protected so it can drive through areas that Muslims once called theirs. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2008-06-22 16:33 |
| #7 If you used a composite body instead of old timey steel it would prolly be pretty easy to get the power to weight ration just right. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-06-22 16:31 |
| #6 If you used a composite body instead of old timey steel it would prolly be pretty easy to get the power to weight ration just right. |
| Posted by: T\ 2008-06-22 16:31 |
| #5 The diesel-electric is pretty interesting. I can swinging that to a mutli-fuel engine or a fuel cell in the future, all without a redesign. Plus it could serve as an in-place generator when not mobile. Directed energy weapons, some of those sonic crowd control things, etc. Question is can they get something like that which will acheive proper power/weight ratios? If so, this will be a pretty revolutionary vehicle. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-06-22 15:28 |
| #4 ..or the failures from our public school system'. ...or those who escaped Ritalin induced lobotomies in our failed public school system. As we say - fixed it for you :) |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-06-22 14:58 |
| #3 That's ok, 49 Pan - we got the message. Right on! Too much government contracting has become a huge game of "how much can we get?", rather than "What kind of first-class equipment can we supply at a reasonable price?". We're going to hell as a nation because too many "citizens" want everything they can get from the government for the least they can return in support. Our parents' generation actually fought for freedom. Today's generation leaves that to the "redneck rubes that don't know any better, or the failures from our public school system". The average person after three years in the military is more mature than most collage graduates, and many are better educated in reality. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-06-22 14:51 |
| #2 Spell check, spell check. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2008-06-22 14:08 |
| #1 How about instead of counting their big dollars before they design and buiold the vehicle they discuss how they will build a faster, more dependable, and IED resistant vehicle to keep our young men and women alive in combat. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2008-06-22 14:07 |