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U.S. Army Goes for More Oshkosh Heavy Tactical Vehicles

Scary, massive, effective. This may seem to sum up what heavy tactical vehicles are all about, but being just words on a screen, they don’t even come close to actually describing what this family of vehicles is all about.
Oshkosh vehicles USMC 1 photo
Photo: Oshkosh
For all intents and purposes, when one uses the words heavy tactical vehicles, the first thing that comes to mind is Oshkosh. The American industrial behemoth is the one responsible for making a great number of them, designed to meet diverse needs and fulfill diverse purposes.

There are five such vehicles presently in the company’s portfolio. First up is the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, or HEMTT. The 500 horsepower monster comes in a number of variants, from cargo hauler to refueler and guided missile transporter.

Then comes the Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET), designed to carry with its 700 horsepower heavy loads, including tanks. Then, the Logistics Vehicle System Replacement (LVSR) puts all its 600 horsepower on the table for hauling flatracks, ISO containers, bridging equipment, boats and fuel containers.

The Palletized Load System (PLS) and Wheeled Tanker complete the list, offering ways to carry ammunition and other critical supplies in the case of the former, and fuel, in the case of the latter.

Ever since these machines came to be, the U.S. military has been ordering them like crazy. The current fleet is getting however a bit old, and the needs of the army are increasing, so an order for more of the newer variants had to be placed.

And this is exactly what the U.S. Army Contracting Command did at the beginning of the month, awarding Oshkosh an extension of the existing contract, and a demand for more heavy tactical vehicles.

According to the company, a total of 353 new and recapitalized HEMTTs, PLSs and HETs will have to be delivered over the next three years to fulfill the Army's needs.

Under the contract awarded in 2015, Oshkosh already delivered close to 70,000 machines from this family to the military.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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