Lockheed Martin's operation in Grand Prairie is known as a missile unit, but its newest business is firmly planted on the ground.
The Army has awarded a $65 million contract to Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control to develop a new generation of ground combat and transport vehicles.Lockheed is one of three companies chosen from nine. The Army wants them to produce a few test vehicles for the Army and Marines to evaluate before awarding a final production contract.Lockheed is "very pleased" with the government's confidence in its proposal and design for the joint light tactical vehicle, Kathryn Hasse, Lockheed's program director, said Thursday in a conference call with reporters.Lockheed officials said this contract will not affect employment at the Grand Prairie facility, which is heavily oriented toward engineering. Other companies are teamed with Lockheed on the program, including a BAE Systems military vehicle plant in Sealy, west of Houston.The contract for the engineering-manufacturing-development phase of the program last 33 months. Each company is to deliver 22 prototype vehicles, 20 of them within 12 months, for a 14 months of testing and evaluation, after which the Army plans to make a final selection and award a production contract.The new vehicles are intended to replace the Army's and the Marines' fleets of light vehicles based on the low-slung Humvee, which replaced the long-lived World War II-vintage Jeep.The new vehicles will be armored and will have some capability to withstand improvised explosive devices. They will have modern communication technology and are expected to be more fuel-efficient than the military's current vehicles.Lockheed has been working toward the JLTV project for some time and has built early prototypes that have undergone 160,000 miles of testing and evaluation. The Army also selected AM General of South Bend, Ind., and Oshkosh Corp. of Oshkosh, Wis., to compete for a full production contract that could involve building 50,000 or more vehicles.It's been a good month for the Lockheed division's efforts to expand its work in military vehicles. The company received a $3.5 million contract for continued testing and evaluation of a Marine personnel carrier based on a Finnish armored vehicle now in use with U.S. allies in Afghanistan.And the company has received study contracts for two other programs, including an unmanned convoy system.Lockheed's Grand Prairie missile unit has been involved in military vehicles nearly 40 years. It developed the multiple launch rocket system, an artillery system mounted on tracks based on the Army's Bradley fighting vehicle.Bob Cox, 817-390-7723Twitter: @bobcoxictHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
