Recent and Pending Milestones

Asked about recent and pending milestones across the M&HTV fleets, Prosser highlighted the P-19R fire truck replacement as well as the Flatrack Refueling Capability (FRC), which is now in full rate production. Heil manufactures the FRC, describing the program as: “… a fueling/defueling system built in an ISO container. It’s designed to transport, store and distribute JP-8, JP-5, DF-2 and other kerosene-based fuels in the expeditionary environment for Marine Corps aircraft and tactical ground vehicles. The fuel capacity of the FRC is approximately 2,500 gallons. The FRC is capable of being loaded, secured, transported and unloaded by the LVSR cargo variant using the LVSR’s integral method of loading ISO containers or flatracks. The FRC is fully operational as a stand-alone system, or integrated with the LVSR. The FRC minimizes fleet operating costs, enhances performance and supportability, and meets all applicable military requirements. Standard equipment includes a fuel filter separator, relaxation chamber, meter, hose reels, pressure and vacuum vents, portable grounding rod, static discharge system, vapor recovery, electronic liquid level indicator, engine and pump assembly. The FRC is air transportable, rail transportable, RO-RO [roll-on/roll-off] capable with top lift and tie down eyes.”

“The FRC will provide an enhanced refueling/defueling capability,” Prosser continued. “It is definitely expeditionary, a feature that becomes obvious when you compare it to driving out with your big tanker truck. Now we will have a 2,500-gallon fuel tank that can be transported on our LVSR, which has tremendous capability both on road and off road. So you can get this fuel capability to anywhere you want and you can leave it on the LVSR or offload the flatrack and leave it sitting at an air station or forward operating base.

“In the aggregate, we have procured our MTVR AAO [Authorized Acquisition Objective],” Prosser said. “But when they [Combat Development & Integration] changed the AAO, they also changed the mix of variants that were required. Essentially, we bought more vehicles than the AAO specified, but we didn’t have the right mix. Therefore, we are in the process of procuring a few more vehicles from Oshkosh. It won’t get us the whole way, but it will get us closer to the mix we want. The PMO [program management office] is considering a wide variety of options to divest of excess variants.”

Other ongoing activities surround sustaining the MTVR.

“In the aggregate, we have procured our MTVR AAO [Authorized Acquisition Objective],” Prosser said. “But when they [Combat Development & Integration] changed the AAO, they also changed the mix of variants that were required. Essentially, we bought more vehicles than the AAO specified, but we didn’t have the right mix. Therefore, we are in the process of procuring a few more vehicles from Oshkosh. It won’t get us the whole way, but it will get us closer to the mix we want. The PMO [program management office] is considering a wide variety of options to divest of excess variants.”

Another pending milestone surrounds the associated MTVR trailers. However, according to Prosser, the situation is a little bit complicated.

“The MTVR trailer has already had a full rate production decision,” he began. “And there are three variants of that trailer: cargo, general purpose, and a water tank variant. Well, the one prototype that was built of the water trailer was apparently down at Blount Island Command in Jacksonville, Fla., and they took a picture of their forklift not able to lift it. That picture drew the attention of some who immediately criticized the program in light of our goals to lighten the MAGTF [Marine Air-Ground Task Force]. The result was that all work was stopped on the water and general purpose trailers so that the Marine Corps could determine the direction they wanted to take. At the same time, they recognized that they still needed to pursue the cargo variant because we still don’t have a new trailer for behind the MTVR. We still have the ‘old’ trailer. But it can’t keep up and the MTVR loses capability by pulling it – you’re limited in where you can drive and what you can do.”

The decision that emerged from the trailer quandary was to keep the chassis of the trailer as it was. Those chassis elements were already being built by Choctaw Defense (in Oklahoma) because of the earlier full rate production decision. But the cargo trailer bed was redesigned to be both lighter and able to haul more cargo.

“So in the end we have less total weight but we’re hauling more cargo,” Prosser noted. “And we are working toward a full rate production decision on that new cargo variant trailer bed, which will then be taken and married up to the chassis that are already built. That decision may happen late this calendar year or early next year.”

At about that same time, the program management office will be addressing the acquisition milestone for a new fire truck. Designed to replace the current fleet of A/S32-P19A Aircraft Crash and Structure Fire Fighting Trucks with Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) trucks, the new P-19 Replacement ARFF Vehicle (P-19R) represents the first new Marine Corps fire truck procurement in 30 years.

The P-19A was introduced into service in 1984, with an intended service life of 12 years, but has been in service in excess of 28 years. The P-19R Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting vehicle will meet both the 2012 National Fire Protection Association 414 standards and the expeditionary fire fighting and aircraft rescue requirements of the U.S. Marine Corps. This program will replace P-19As at both Operational Force (OPFOR) units and garrison mobile equipment (GME) at Marine Corps Air Facilities.

“The MTVR, especially, is the workhorse of the medium fleet,” he said. “It’s been out there longer. And it is being used in tactical and geographic environments that, quite frankly, were not expected when the vehicle was acquired. Take a look at things like the armoring we have applied to them or equipping them with a manned weapon station. Now I’m not going to say that they look like a combat vehicle; but they certainly don’t look like a truck either.

In May 2013, Oshkosh Defense was awarded an engineering, manufacturing, and development (EMD) contract to build 164 fire trucks for the Marine Corps.

 

Tactical Performance/Future Challenges

Prosser’s takeaway messages highlighted the performance of both medium and heavy fleet vehicles in theater as well as future program challenges.

“The MTVR, especially, is the workhorse of the medium fleet,” he said. “It’s been out there longer. And it is being used in tactical and geographic environments that, quite frankly, were not expected when the vehicle was acquired. Take a look at things like the armoring we have applied to them or equipping them with a manned weapon station. Now I’m not going to say that they look like a combat vehicle; but they certainly don’t look like a truck either.

“In fact, those are some of the big issues that the Marine Corps is facing in terms of what we do with some of those ‘armored up’ vehicles,” he added. “We really need to evaluate how many armored MTVRs and armored LVSRs we need running around Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton or anywhere else in the United States. We think we want to keep them in an armored configuration, but the question becomes, ‘What we are going to do with them?  – store them, use them for training, or continue to run them regularly as an armored vehicle?’ So we have those things to work out along with the whole reset/reconstitution effort.”

He continued, “Another thing I would highlight is that the last word in both truck names is ‘Replacement,’ so they were both replacements for old systems in the Marine Corps. They were both built with basically a 22-year service life. And at this point, the first MTVR vehicles that were fielded are halfway through their expected service lives. However, if you look at our budgets, it’s clear that there’s not a replacement for the MTVR or LVSR out there. If there was, we probably should be working on it already.

“Their planned 22-year service life did not include a depot maintenance rebuild program for them because of their technology and ruggedness,” he stated. “And right now there is no SLEP [Service Life Extension Program] or modernization upgrade on the schedule. None of that is planned. So one of the things that this program office has to start thinking about is the point where we have to do a major overhaul on these vehicles, an upgrade, or a SLEP to keep them effective well into the future. We don’t have the answers to that yet, but those are some of the things we are starting to explore.”

This article first appeared in the Marine Corps Outlook 2013-2014 Edition.