WASHINGTON — Mack Defense, Navistar Defense, Oshkosh Defense and an American Rheinmetall and GM Defense team will build prototypes for a Common Tactical Truck after the U.S. Army awarded them deals worth a cumulative $24.3 million.
Each team will build three prototypes of each CTT variant — an M915 Line Haul Tractor and M1088 Medium Tractor; a Palletized Load System; and Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck. Vendors will also provide digital designs to go with each variant and a design study for a wrecker, according to the Army.
The prototyping effort is meant to “really allow the Army to evaluate current commercial technology in a military-type application, modified off-the-shelf for military purposes,” Brig. Gen. Luke Peterson, the Army’s program executive officer in charge of combat support and combat service support, told Defense News last fall. “We are going to really learn what industry can offer us, and affordability is going to be the key driver here for the Army to make those informed decisions.”
In the Army’s award announcement Friday, Peterson said the “CTT effort brings an increased level of standardization to the Army’s Tactical Truck fleet.”
“This effort is reminiscent of the original Liberty Truck, a heavy-duty truck produced by the United States Army during World War I,” he continued. “It was the first official standardized motor vehicle adopted and produced by the U.S. military. “The CTT program can be viewed as the Liberty Truck of the 21st century, as it will similarly seek to streamline the Army’s supply, maintenance, and training requirements.”
The service in June 2022 released a request for proposals to build prototypes.
The Army will begin evaluating the initial prototypes at the start of 2024, according to Friday’s statement. The evaluation results will feed a capabilities development document that will be submitted to the Army Requirements Oversight Council. An AROC decision on whether to move forward is planned for fiscal 2026.
If the Army greenlights the requirements, the Army plans to again open the competition, allowing vendors to submit bids for the engineering and manufacturing development phase, the statement adds.
Initial production could total about 5,700 vehicles valued at around $5 billion.
American Rheinmetall Vehicles and GM Defense partnered over the summer of 2022 to compete to build a prototype for the Army. They showcased a Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles HX tactical military truck at GM Defense’s booth at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual exhibition in Washington last fall. The truck was hauling one of the Infantry Squad Vehicles that GM Defense is building for the Army.
Mack Defense’s chief executive, Dave Hartzell, told Defense News last year it was basing its prototype design and technology on its Granite family of vehicles — and militarizing it.
AM General, which did not receive a contract to build prototypes, announced its bid at the AUSA conference. The company teamed with Italian company Iveco Defence Vehicles, which is partnered with BAE Systems to supply the U.S. Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle.
“The team’s High Mobility Range Vehicle architecture for [the Common Tactical Truck] will be based on a newly launched highly modular range of trucks, specifically designed for military use,” according to AM General’s statement at the time.
