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Deployed defense.

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Deployed defense

by Michelle EauClaire and Chad Elmore

One company invested its own money and time into a project they didn't know they had, to save our troops in Afghanistan.

We all know staying on target in a new product development program means more than a few late nights, where at times you need to be reminded why you love this job. For the engineers at Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, WI, the development cycle of its latest vehicle went from customer request to prototype in under three months. For them, staying on target meant working around the clock, always remembering that their hard work would save lives.

To date, Oshkosh's Defense Div. has received three awards under a delivery order against a government contract from the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD) for the production of a new class of military vehicle. The awards total $2.3 billion for 4,296 M-ATVs (MRAP-ATV, mine-resistant ambush-protected all-terrain vehicle) to United States soldiers.

It was a fast turn-around. The selection process for the vehicle program started late last year. On Dec. 8, 2008 a Joint Urgent Operation Needs (JUONS) request (which originated with task forces in Afghanistan) was issued, giving companies 30 days to come up with a vehicle proposal. The requirement was to enhance the off-road capabilities of the military's MRAP fleet -- key performance parameters included designing a machine that would spend 70% of its time off road, a weight of less than 25,000 lbs., and a five-passenger capacity. There were certain Tier 1 requirements the new vehicle had to meet, and Tier 2 requirements that were tradable.

The troops were finding that while MRAP vehicles worked well in Iraq where there is an extensive road infrastructure, Afghanistan was mostly rural land with a poor road network. Unstable mountain roads often crumbled under the heavy weight of the MRAP vehicle. Soldiers needed something lighter and more agile for the primitive road systems, while maintaining the MRAP level of protection.

The brevity of time called for a non-developmental item, explains Ken Juergens, program director, M-ATV Defense, Oshkosh Corp. There was no...

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