WASHINGTON — Mack Defense, Navistar Defense, Oshkosh Defense and a US team from Rheinmetall and GM Defense are set to build prototypes for a Common Tactical Truck after the US military awarded them deals totaling $24.3 million.
Each team builds three prototypes of each CTT variant: an M915 Line Haul tractor and M1088 Medium tractor; a palletized loading system; and Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck. Sellers will also provide digital designs to match each variant and a design study for a crane truck, according to the military.
The prototyping effort is intended to “really enable the military to evaluate current commercial technology in a military application, out-of-the-box adapted for military purposes,” Brig. Gen. Luke Peterson, the Army program executive officer responsible for combat support and combat service support, told Defense News this fall. “We’re really going to learn what the industry has to offer us, and affordability is going to be the main driver here for the military to make those informed decisions.”
In the Army’s award announcement on Friday, Peterson said the “CTT effort brings a higher 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 military during World War I,” he continued. “It was the first official standardized motor vehicle adopted and produced by the United States 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 issued a request in June 2022 for proposals to build prototypes.
The military will begin evaluating the first prototypes in early 2024, according to Friday’s statement. The results of the evaluation will produce a capability development document that will be submitted to the Army Requirements Oversight Council. An AROC decision on whether to proceed is scheduled for fiscal 2026.
If the military greenlights the requirements, the military plans to reopen the competition, allowing suppliers to submit bids for the engineering and manufacturing development phase, the statement added.
Initial production could total about 5,700 vehicles valued at about $5 billion.
American Rheinmetall Vehicles and GM Defense teamed up in the summer of 2022 to compete to build a prototype for the military. They displayed a Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles HX tactical military truck on the GM Defense booth at the Association of the US Army’s annual exhibition in Washington last fall. The truck was carrying one of the Infantry Squad Vehicles that GM Defense is building for the military.
Mack Defense CEO Dave Hartzell told Defense News last year that it based its prototype design and technology on its Granite family of vehicles — and militarized it.
AM General, which was not awarded a contract to build prototypes, announced its bid at the AUSA conference. The company partnered with Italian company Iveco Defense Vehicles, which has partnered with BAE Systems to provide the US Marine Corps amphibious combat vehicle.
“The team’s High Mobility Range Vehicle architecture for [the Common Tactical Truck] will be based on a recently launched highly modular range of trucks, specifically designed for military use,” said AM General’s statement at the time.
