Oshkosh Wins MRAP-ATV Initial Contract

(MoneyWatch)  The U.S. Army and Department of Defense awarded Oshokosh Corporation a contract to build the first two thousand or so MRAP-ATV vehicles for use in Afghanistan. This contract is worth over $1 billion dollars to the company.

The MRAP-ATV is a lighter, more maneuverable successor to the many Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles already in use in Iraq and Afghanistan. These were quickly rushed into production over the last five years to provide a means of protection for U.S. troops as they moved on roads against mines and IEDs. The MRAP-ATV will allow greater cross country capability in a country with few roads and harsh terrain.

The MRAP-ATV contract was based on a phased process where companies had received contracts to build prototypes that were tested against each other. There had been some thought that the U.S. military would have ordered vehicles from more than one competitor to increase the availability of the vehicles. It is now reported that maybe Oshkosh will sub to one of the losers to ramp up production faster. The Army certainly still has the ability to award a contract to one of the others whose prototypes competed -- BAE Systems, Navistar and Force Dynamics.