Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles Features, Photos and Videos

The Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) is a series of vehicles, based on a common chassis, that vary by payload and mission requirements. The FMTV is derived from the Austrian Steyr 12 M 18 truck, but substantially modified to meet U.S. Army requirements, these including a minimum 50 per cent U.S. content.

There were originally 17 FMTV variants—four variants in the nominal 2.5 U.S. ton payload class, designated Light Medium Tactical Vehicle (LMTV), and 13 variants with a nominal 5 U.S. ton payload rating, called Medium Tactical Vehicle (MTV).

Since the first FMTVs were fielded in January 1996 the family has been expanded and the overall design enhanced considerably. The FMTV was originally manufactured by Stewart and Stevenson (1996-2006), then by Armor Holdings (2006-2007), then by what is now BAE Systems Platforms and Services until 2011. It is currently manufactured by Oshkosh Corporation. On 13 October 2016 the U.S. Army solicited proposals for the FMTV A2 rebuy competition. On 7 February 2018 the U.S. Army announced the FMTV A2 contract had been awarded to Oshkosh Defense.

FMTV's origins trace back to a U.S. Army TRAining and DOctrine Command (TRADOC) requirements document issued in 1983 for a Medium Tactical Truck (MTT), the intended replacement for the in-service 2.5-ton truck. In July 1984 a program to look at a future 5-ton truck procurement to replace in-service 2.5- and 5-ton trucks began. Cost analysis demonstrated that the procurement should be for both 2.5- and 5-ton trucks, and in October 1984 FMTV formally began as a program. The Request For Proposals (RFP) for FMTV was released in 1988. At this time it was expected that around 120,000 trucks would be ordered over three five-year contracts.

In October 1988, the U.S. Army awarded contracts to Stewart and Stevenson, the Tactical Truck Corporation (a 50/50 joint venture between General Motors Military Vehicles and the BMY Wheeled Vehicle Division of the HARSCO Corporation), and Teledyne Continental Motors for 15 prototype vehicles each, these to be completed by January 1989. In October 1991 a five-year FMTV contract was awarded to Stewart and Stevenson. The initial contract order total was expected to be 20,000 vehicles, but this was reduced to 10,843 vehicles valued at USD1.2 billion. Some options were added and raised the total to 11,197 vehicles over what would be extended to 7 contract years. The first FMTVs were fielded in January 1996.

In October 1998 Stewart and Stevenson was awarded the second FMTV contract, this for 8,000 trucks and 1,500 companion trailers and with a value of $1.4 billion. Total quantities including options were 11,491 trucks and 2,292 trailers, delivered between September 1999 and October 2004. Trucks were the improved A1 model, with improvements including an uprated engine (1998 EPA compliant) and transmission, and the introduction of ABS. The first A1 models were fielded in July 2000.

Stewart and Stevenson and Oshkosh Truck Corporation were awarded contracts in April 2001 for the Evaluation Phase (Phase 1) of the FMTV A1 Competitive Rebuy (FMTV A1 CR) program for the next FMTV production contract. Following trials and evaluation, in April 2003 the contract was awarded to Stewart and Stevenson. Production of the FMTV A1 CR (designated FMTV A1R) began in Q3 2004. Improvements to A1R models were numerous and included a new EPA 2004 compliant Caterpillar C7 engine. A total of 21,149 FMTVs and companion trailers were built under the FMTV A1R contract award.

In May 2006, Stewart and Stevenson was acquired by Armor Holdings Inc., and in August 2007, Armor Holdings was acquired by BAE Systems.

The U.S. Army had intended that the Future Tactical Truck System (FTTS) with just two variants would eventually replace virtually all of its tactical wheeled vehicle fleet including the FMTV. FTTS never materialized, however along with inputs from other efforts it continues to be used to define requirements for future U.S. Army trucks. With FTTS already faltering, BAE Systems was awarded a bridging contract in June 2008 for up to 10,000 FMTVs or trailers, the contract including an option (which was exercised) for 10,000 additional vehicles.

In May 2009 BAE Systems, Navistar Defense and Oshkosh Defense each announced they had submitted proposals for the FMTV A1P2 competitive rebuy program to the U.S. Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Command. In August 2009, the U.S. Army announced that Oshkosh Defense had been awarded the FMTV A1P2 rebuy production contract. The award was protested by both BAE Systems and Navistar.

The FMTV A1P2 rebuy was awarded as a five-year 'build-to-print' requirements-type award that at award allowed the U.S. government to order from 0 up to 12,415 trucks and 10,926 trailers through to calendar year 2014. Some FMTV variants are excluded from the rebuy competition, those excluded include specialist FMTV variants such as HIMARS, Patriot, MEADS and LVAD, plus all the armored cabs developed by BAE Systems.

According to the U.S. Army (in February 2012) all FMTV work with BAE Systems (minus a small number of armor B-kits) had concluded, BAE Systems and legacy companies having delivered around 74,000 FMTV trucks and trailers to the U.S. Army.

U.S. budgetary projections of March 2012 suggested that due to funding constraints the FMTV program would be terminated in FY14. Under the FMTV contract orders could be placed until December 2013, with first deliveries to commence within one year of that, with final deliveries one year later. Contract extensions have been made and the Justification and Approval (JandA) notice for the latest of these, which will extend the FMTV contract from 30 September 2016 to 25 August 2019 and will allow for the continued procurement of FMTV A1P2s, was released on 14 October 2016. One day earlier, on 13 October 2016 the U.S. Army solicited proposals for the FMTV A2 rebuy competition.

On 11 January 2017 Israel's Ministry of Defense announced it would be acquiring 200 FMTVs from Oshkosh in a contract valued at $200 million. Deliveries are expected to start this year and conclude mid-2018. The MoD noted that additional orders are likely. At this time Oshkosh confirmed that since deliveries started in 2010, the company had received orders for over 24,500 FMTV trucks and 11,400 FMTV trailers.

On 21 September 2017 Oshkosh announced that the U.S. Army had announced an administrative modification to the FMTV A1P2 requirements contract with the company, this to establish the eighth, ninth and tenth Order Years’ pricing under the contract, at an estimated value of $466 million. This administrative modification authorizes future orders under the FMTV A1P2 contract through August 25, 2019. This contract extension will close out production of the FMTV A1P2.

On 21 September an order for 1,065 FMTVs at a value of $260.1 million under Order Year 8 of the latest contract extension was announced. On 27 September a further two Order Year 8 orders for a total of 148 FMTVs valued at more than $36 million was announced, with Oshkosh also confirming that the company had delivered more than 36,200 FMTV trucks and trailers. On 6 November Oshkosh announced the delivery of the 25,000th FMTV truck to the US Army. On 14 June 2018 Oshkosh announced that the U.S. Army Contracting Command had placed four additional orders for a total of 771 FMTV A1P2s, valued at $159.6 million.

Oshkosh Defense announced on 27 February 2019 that the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) had placed orders with the company for a further 354 FMTV A1P2 trucks and trailers at a value of $75 million. By February 2019, Oshkosh had delivered more than 38,100 trucks since the award of the FMTV A1P2 contract. On 28 June 2019 the US Department of Defence announced that Oshkosh had been awarded a $320,000,000 modification to domestic and Foreign Military Sales (Argentina, Djibouti, Iraq, Lebanon, Romania) contract W56HZV-09-D-0159 for procurement of Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle variants. Estimated completion date is 24 August 2021.

The 2.5-ton (4x4) FMTV is designated as the Light Medium Tactical Vehicle (LMTV), while the 5-ton (6x6) is designated the Medium Tactical Vehicle (MTV).

The FMTV is based on the Austrian Steyr 12 M 18 (4x4) truck, but substantially modified to meet U.S. Army requirements that included a minimum 50% US content. The original 15 FMTV prototypes were assembled in Austria and while based on the 12 M 18 chassis-cab, were fitted with a number of US-supplied/specification components including a Caterpillar diesel engine, Allison automatic transmission and Meritor drive axles.

In a move away from previous U.S. Army designs, a Cab Over Engine (COE) design was selected for the FMTV as while the US Army did not specify this configuration, given the Cold War situation prevailing at the time it had indicated that overall length for shipboard transport was a consideration.

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