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25 Sep 14. Brazil plans to add 56 additional 6x6s. The Brazilian Army is expected to purchase a new batch of VBTP-MR Guarani 6×6 amphibious armoured vehicles from Iveco Latin America. An order for 56 vehicles is scheduled to be finalised by early 2015 for about BRL200m (USD83m), which was allocated in Brazil’s planned budged for 2015. This new contract is to be awarded by the Logistics Command instead of by the army’s Department of Science and Technology, which contracted for previous vehicle sets, as the project moves from a develop stage to procurement. On 26 September the 100th vehicle was delivered to the army, with 128 vehicles purchased so far and scheduled to be completed by December 2014. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
25 Sep 14. Army to Start Next JLTV Competition This Fall. Truck-maker Oshkosh Corp. and Humvee-maker AM General LLC both brought prototypes of their new light-duty tactical trucks to this year’s Modern Day Marine expo. Lockheed Martin Corp. settled for displaying a miniature model of its offering for the Army and Marine Corp.’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program. The defense contractors are eagerly awaiting the next phase of the acquisition effort to replace about a third of the iconic Humvee fleet with tougher, faster vehicles. The Army plans to begin the latest competition before the end of the year, possibly in mid-November, with a request for proposals from firms interested in bidding for production contracts. The service next summer, possibly in July, plans to pick a winner — or winners — to begin building the trucks, which are designed to be lightweight like Humvees, but more survivable, like the blast-resistant trucks known as Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, built for the U.S.-led ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Over the past decade, the Pentagon spent nearly $50bn buying some 25,000 MRAPs as part of a rapid-acquisition effort spearheaded by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates to better protect troops from roadside bombs. Thousands of the vehicles were subsequently scrapped, mothballed or handed down to local police departments because the military never intended them to be a permanent part of the tactical wheeled vehicle fleet. Now, the Army and Marine Corps are trying to incorporate some of the lessons learned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into a replacement for the Humvee. Each of the companies has delivered 22 JLTV prototypes to the Army for testing under engineering and manufacturing development agreements signed in 2012. They’re competing against each other — and potentially eligible outside vendors — to build 17,000 of the vehicles under low-rate initial production contracts expected to be signed in summer 2015. Overall, the Army aims to purchase about 49,000 of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, while the Marine Corps plans to acquire about 5,500 of the trucks. Both services have pledged their commitment to the program despite facing automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. The Pentagon has estimated the effort to develop and build the vehicles at almost $23bn, or about $400,000 per truck, according to a 2013 report from the Congressional Research Service. Leaders have maintained each vehicle will cost about $250,000. The Defense Department requested about $230m for the acquisition effort in fiscal 2015, which begins Oct. 1, for a total of 183 vehicles, including 176 for the Army and seven for the Marine Corps, according to budget documents. (Source: Open Source Information Report/DoD Buzz)
01 Oct 14. US Army chooses teams for DVE mitigation ground testing. Key Points: The army has selected nine participants for ground testing of DVE mitigation sensors; DVEs are a leading contributor to rotorcraft accidents and reduced operational effectiveness. The US Army has selected nine participan