Four bidders selected for next phase of US Army tactical truck programme

On 27 January, the US Army announced Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements with four bidders on the CTT programme: Mack Defense; Navistar Defense; Oshkosh Defense; and an American Rheinmetall/GM Defense team. The combined contract value is $24.25 million. 

Under the OTAs, the contractors will provide three prototypes of each variant for the CTT Family of Vehicles, aimed at replacing the M915 Line Haul Tractor and M1088 Medium Tractor; Palletized Load System (PLS); and Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT).

The bidders will also provide digital designs of all variants and a design study for a wrecker model. This rapid prototyping phase will inform the army whether commercially based variants can meet military requirements.

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'The CTT effort brings an increased level of standardisation to the army’s tactical truck fleet,' Program Executive Officer Combat Support & Combat Service Support (PEO CS&CSS) Brig Gen Luke Peterson said. '[CTT] will... seek to streamline the army’s supply, maintenance and training requirements.'

Wolfgang Petermann, project manager, Transportation Systems, PEO CS&CSS, added that the programme is intended to redesign the fleet to integrate commercial technologies such as driver assist systems, foundations for future autonomy, fuel efficiency, exportable power and prognostics and predictive maintenance.

Evaluation of prototypes is due in early 2024, after which the PEO, will present a Capabilities Development Document to the Army Requirements Oversight Council for a decision in FY2026.

If approval is granted, the PEO will then conduct an open competition, with bidders delivering production-representative vehicles for run-off testing, leading to a production contract.

Mack Defense's bid is believed to be based on the company's Granite range of vehicles; Oshkosh Defense will submit modernised versions of its Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles line; while American Rheinmetall and GM Defense will use the HX3 design as the basis of its prototypes. Navistar had not publicised any details of its submission at the time of writing.

The CTT programme could run to production of  40,000 vehicles worth $14 billion,