Marines and Soldiers will finish testing the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Thursday at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center here.

Soldiers from Bravo Troop, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division joined with Marines of Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, to run the JLTV through its paces by conducting real-world missions in an operational environment as realistic as Iraq or Afghanistan.

Testing began late February, and according to Randall G. Fincher, JLTV test officer with the U.S. Army Operational Test Command, 39 JLTVs in two variants of Combat Tactical Vehicle and Combat Support Vehicle were split, with 18 going to the Marines and 21 to the Army test units.

«The Marines and the Army were equipped with both variants in the following mission packages: Heavy Guns Carrier, General Purpose, Close Combat Weapons Carrier, and the Utility version», said Fincher.

The biggest advantage to testing was the almost unreserved size of the MCAGCC training area and its harsh terrain, providing a true test of the vehicle’s maneuverability.

«The Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center offers us a large expanse of maneuverable terrain with hardball routes, secondary routes, and cross-country terrain in a realistic desert environment», said Colonel John W. Leffers, director of USAOTC’s Maneuver Support and Sustainment Test Directorate.

«The terrain I see out there, is very indicative of what a Soldier or Marine would see in southern Afghanistan», he continued. «It’s absolutely the conditions the JLTV will be operating in, real-world, based on past deployments and the strong possibility of areas we will operate in for the foreseeable future».

Leffers said the two particular Marine and Army units performing tests represent the JLTV’s primary customers.

«It’s a joint vehicle», he said. «We used the Marines, who picked the company they thought would use the JLTV on a frequent basis. And, for the Army, the Recon Troop was perfect because of the number of JLTVs we wanted to test in a variety of missions that we project the JLTV might be operating under».

Operationally realistic scenarios allowed the test unit Marines and Soldiers to tell the Department of Defense how well the system supports their mission execution.

For the Marines, live fire and helicopter sling load operations, as well as a Marine Amphibious Landing mission at Camp Pendleton, California were added to testing.

One combined anti-armor team section leader Marine who has been deployed to Iraq twice, said training during JLTV testing was beneficial.

«In terms of everything we did specific to Twentynine Palms and the combat center here – all of the scenarios – we’re pretty much experts at», said Marine Sergeant McLennan S. Janes. «That’s all we do. That’s our bread and butter, in terms of movement to contact and conducting deliberate attacks, defense in-depths, and conducting raids and clearances. The things exclusive to JLTV testing included the amphibious landings and sling loads by helicopter that we never get to do».

The 101st Airborne Division Soldiers from Fort Campbell, Kentucky compared the MCAGCC terrain and size to much smaller training areas at their home station.

«It’s not very often my Troop gets to go out anywhere for an extended period of time and train mounted tactics, especially in this kind of terrain», said Captain Michael D. Rodriguez, Bravo Troop commander. «It’s just not what’s at Fort Campbell».

Rodriguez said a Mounted Cavalry Troop is required to spread out over distances up to 15 kilometers and be able to shoot, move and communicate.

«The main thing we can’t get at Campbell that we can get out here is the ability to do our mission over a great distance», he said. We’ve been doing long movements, we’ve been doing missions at distance, and we’ve been identifying enemy outside of our weapons range, which is ideal for what we want to do as Scouts – we want to identify the enemy outside of weapons range and use indirect fire instead of direct fire to disrupt their ability to operate. At Fort Campbell, we come right up on our pretend enemy and get into a direct engagement with them. That’s good training, but it helps to be out here for my Soldiers to be able to see how big the battlespace is that we are required to cover as a Mounted Troop».

Rodriguez also said he welcomed the opportunity to be involved in an operational test without the normal distractions at home station.

«I was able to look at all of my Soldiers and say, ‘Hey, your job is scouting for the next two months.’ That’s pretty valuable», he said.

One of Rodriguez’s platoon leaders said the training experience during the JLTV test will go a long way for him and his Soldiers.

«Traversing in new terrain which is unfamiliar is just like being on a deployment and it’s a good experience for all of us», said First Lieutenant Mike D. Towery. «Now, we have this knowledge base of what it’s like to maneuver in a desert environment, which will most likely be coming up for us, so now we have that experience in our back pocket. We now know the best way to maneuver these vehicles, and especially for myself, I will know how to maneuver a platoon in this type of desert environment».

The operational test’s purpose is to collect data to be used to address operational effectiveness, suitability and survivability of the JLTV in its intended environment, according to Fincher.

The Soldiers and Marines felt their opinions were being listened to and considered when test officers solicited their feedback.

«It is a good opportunity to be able to work out the kinks and provide the future generations in the Marine Corps with a vehicle that is going to be able to operate efficiently in combat», said Janes.

«After every test after action review, I would write about three pages and submit about 20 comment cards per week», said Staff Sergeant Matthew A. Smith, 2nd Platoon Sergeant for the 101st’s Bravo Troop.

With 9-and-a-half years as a Cavalry Scout and five wartime deployments, Smith was content with giving his opinion on what works and what does not work with the JLTV.

Smith said that while USAOTC Commander, Brigadier General John C. Ulrich, was on the ground April 10, he felt the general listened to him with great concern.

«A lot of the comments that I’ve made have been brought up», he explained.

«I was actually able to talk with the general one-on-one about some issues I addressed during data collection», said Smith. «They’re definitely taking our recommendations. It seems like they want to make this the best vehicle possible, so they’re like, ‘Hey, here is what we’ve designed. What do we need to improve upon?’»

Smith said a lot of his Soldiers are young, and outside of JLTV testing, his troops got lots of training on battlefield operations.

«At Fort Campbell, we focus more on dismounted and air assault tactics, and we focus more on the squad level», he said. So, to come here, we have a 100-kilometer square that we can operate in and we’re out here with 20 vehicles fighting as a unit. Space is something that’s limited at Fort Campbell because there’s trees everywhere, and you can’t put every vehicle in the Troop out there and be able to fight a threat like you can here».

The Army, lead for the JLTV portfolio, plans to purchase some 49,000 JLTVs while the Marine Corps plans to purchase 9,000.

The first seven joint light tactical vehicles were turned over to the Army and Marine Corps in late September by Oshkosh Defense for testing at different sites around the force.

A total of about 100 of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) «production vehicles» will be provided to the Army and Marine Corps for testing over the next year, at a rate of about 10 per month, officials said. The vehicles will undergo maneuverability and automotive testing at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, and other sites around the country.

The JLTV is a tactical wheeled vehicle with a chassis that offers protection from underbelly blasts and an «intelligent» suspension system that can be raised and lowered for off-road conditions. It also touts greater fuel efficiency than current tactical vehicles.

In addition to testing at Yuma, the vehicles will undergo testing for cyber integration of command, control, communications and intelligence at the Electronics Proving Ground on Fort Huachuca, Arizona. The vehicles will also be tested for automotive performance at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland and the Cold Regions Test Center on Fort Greely, Alaska.

«It’s on schedule», said Scott Davis, program executive officer for combat support and combat service support, about the JLTV program. «It’s doing everything we ever expected it to. It’s just incredible».

The JLTV has four different variants: a general-purpose truck, a close-combat weapons carrier, a heavy guns carrier, and a two-door utility pickup version. The group of trucks delivered last week included all but one of the variant types, the close-combat weapons carrier. That variant should be included in the next delivery in a few weeks, according to an Oshkosh spokesman.

Colonel Shane Fullmer, project manager for the JLTV program, said the decision on the caliber of the weapons to be fielded on the variants will be made over the next few months.

Once full production begins on the JLTV program in 2019, Army acquisition officials expect to shave five years off the original fielding schedule. The schedule reduction is expected to save $6 billion from previous estimates, Davis said.

«Based on our original budget-planning figures for the vehicle, if it now comes in at a lower price, we’ll be able to buy more each year, which shrinks the total length of the contract», Davis said. «Of course, as you shorten things up, you accrue cost avoidances».

Originally, plans for the program called for fielding all 54,599 vehicles for the Army and Marine Corps by the early 2040s. However, as a result of the unit cost savings, the Army should be able to buy more trucks faster. The Army may acquire the full complement by as early as the mid-2030s, officials said.

Katrina McFarland, assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, called the JLTV is «a marvelous construct» designed by brilliant engineers.

The JLTV program has already been recognized as a model in acquisition, winning the Department of Defense’s prestigious David Packard Award for Acquisition Excellence twice – in 2013 and 2015.

Just this past week, at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exhibition, Army leaders honored the program with the 2015 Secretary of the Army’s Award for Environmental Excellence in Weapon System Acquisition.

The U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) has directed Oshkosh Defense, LLC, an Oshkosh Corporation company, to resume work on the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) production contract. The JLTV program fills a critical capability gap for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps by replacing a large portion of the legacy High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) fleet with a light vehicle that provides unprecedented protection, off-road mobility and transportability.

«We are pleased that the JLTV production contract, awarded to Oshkosh in August, is now moving forward to deliver the world’s most capable light tactical vehicle», said U.S. Army Major General (Retired) John M. Urias, executive vice president of Oshkosh Corporation and president of Oshkosh Defense. «Our JLTV is designed to safely transport Soldiers and Marines as they perform their missions ‘outside the wire’ – providing unprecedented off-road speed and mobility on future battlefields that could be virtually anywhere in the world».

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) dismissed Lockheed Martin’s protest earlier today based on Lockheed’s notice that it intends to file a protest in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.  Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Army lifted the stop work order and instructed Oshkosh to resume performance of the JLTV contract.  According to the JLTV production contract, Oshkosh will begin delivering vehicles within the next 10 months, reaching an expected total volume of nearly 17,000 vehicles, as well as kits and sustainment services over an eight-year period.

«The Army conducted a thorough, methodical procurement including exhaustive testing and evaluation to ensure our troops get the best vehicle», said Urias. «The Oshkosh team and our employees will immediately resume work to deliver JLTVs to our Soldiers and Marines. The JLTV program fills a critical gap in the U.S. military’s current tactical vehicle line-up», said Urias. «The Oshkosh JLTV will give our troops new levels of payload, performance and protection in a platform that was engineered to evolve as new technologies emerge and our adversaries’ tactics change».

In designing its JLTV, Oshkosh leveraged its extensive experience producing and sustaining more than 150,000 heavy, medium and protected Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles for the U.S. and its allies. The JLTV Family of Vehicles is comprised of two seat and four seat variants, as well as a companion Trailer (JLTV-T). The two-seat variant has one base vehicle platform, the Utility (JLTV-UTL). The four-seat variant has two base vehicle platforms, the General Purpose (JLTV-GP) and the Close Combat Weapons Carrier (JLTV-CCWC).