OSHKOSH, WIS. (March 6, 2006) – Oshkosh Truck Corporation (NYSE:OSK), a leading manufacturer of specialty trucks and truck bodies, announced today that it has added an armored vehicle to its stable of combat-proven military trucks. Under a licensing agreement with the vehicle’s developer, ADI Limited of Australia, Oshkosh Truck will market, manufacture and support the Bushmaster armored vehicle for North American customers as well as countries eligible for Foreign Military Sales. Senior executives from both companies signed the agreement at a ceremony held at the Australian Embassy, on Friday, Feb. 24.
The Bushmaster was originally developed by ADI, in conjunction with the Australian Defence Force. The vehicle is mine-blast resistant due to its v-shaped hull, and its armor provides IED and ballistic protection to its occupants. The vehicle’s mission profile requires it to travel long distances over rough terrain and deliver its occupants to their destination as safely and comfortably as possible, making them more effective in a tactical environment. There are currently over 100 Bushmaster vehicles in service with the Australian Defence Forces, with a number of the vehicles deployed with Australian units in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. An additional 200 vehicles are under contract and scheduled for production at ADI’s Bendigo (Australia) facility.
“The Bushmaster provides Oshkosh Truck with an even greater ability to support our customer through a wider spectrum of conflict”, said John Stoddart, Oshkosh’s executive vice president and president, defense. “As threats and the nature of conflict have evolved, the need for vehicles offering greater safety has grown. This vehicle can meet that need by not only improving troop safety, but delivering the level of performance the military expects from an Oshkosh vehicle.”
Oshkosh plans to manufacture Bushmaster vehicles at its defense manufacturing facility in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and can support significant volumes of Bushmaster vehicle production if required. ADI’s Bendigo facility will work in conjunction with Oshkosh Truck to support any increase in demand.
Steps are also being taken to integrate components currently used on Oshkosh Truck’s fleet of military logistics vehicles. This will increase parts commonality between the Bushmaster and vehicles currently used by the U.S. military, making it easier and less expensive for the U.S. military to supply logistics to a Bushmaster fleet. Oshkosh Truck is already providing logistics support to the Australian Bushmaster fleet in Iraq and Afghanistan through its global parts and service network.
About Oshkosh Truck Corporation
Oshkosh Truck Corporation [NYSE: OSK] is a leading manufacturer of specialty trucks and truck bodies for the defense, fire and emergency, concrete placement and refuse hauling markets. Oshkosh Truck is a Fortune 1000 company with products marketed under the Oshkosh®, Pierce®, McNeilus®, Medtec®, Geesink, Norba and Jerr-Dan® brand names. The company is headquartered in Oshkosh, Wis., and had annual sales of $2.96 billion in fiscal 2005.
To learn more about Oshkosh Truck Corporation, visit its web site at www.oshkoshtruckcorporation.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that the Company believes to be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company’s future financial position, business strategy, targets, projected sales, costs, earnings, capital expenditures, debt levels and cash flows, and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “should,” “project” or “plan” or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond the Company’s control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include the Company’s ability to continue the turnaround of its Geesink Norba Group business, the cyclical nature of the Company’s commercial and fire and emergency markets, risks related to reductions in government expenditures, the uncertainty of government contracts, the availability of defense truck carcasses for remanufacturing, the challenges of identifying acquisition candidates and integrating acquired businesses, risks associated with the implementation of an enterprise resource planning system at McNeilus®; the success of the RevolutionÒ composite concrete mixer drum, the availability of commercial chassis and certain chassis components including engines, and risks associated with international operations and sales, including foreign currency fluctuations. In addition, the Company’s expectations for fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2007 are based in part on certain assumptions made by the Company, including without limitation those relating to the Company’s ability to continue the turnaround of the business of the Geesink Norba Group sufficiently to support its current valuation resulting in no non-cash impairment charge for Geesink Norba Group goodwill; the Company’s ability to sustain flat operating income in the commercial segment and to raise operating income in its fire and emergency segment in fiscal 2007 despite anticipated lower industry demand resulting from changes to diesel engine emissions standards effective January 1, 2007; the Company’s estimates for the level of concrete placement activity, housing starts and mortgage rates; the performance of the U.S. and European economies generally; the Company’s expectations as to timing of receipt of sales orders and payments and execution and funding of defense contracts; the Company’s ability to achieve cost reductions and operating efficiencies, in particular at McNeilus and the Geesink Norba Group; the anticipated level of production and margins associated with the Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles contract, the Indefinite Demand/Indefinite Quantity truck remanufacturing contract, the MTVR follow-on contract and international defense truck contracts; the expected level of U.S. Department of Defense procurement of replacement parts and services and funding thereof; the Company’s estimates for capital expenditures of municipalities for fire and emergency and refuse products, of airports for aircraft rescue and snow removal products and of large commercial waste haulers generally and with the Company; federal funding levels for U.S. Department of Homeland Security and spending by governmental entities on homeland security apparatus; the availability of chassis components including engines and commercial chassis generally; the Company’s planned spending on product development and bid and proposal activities with respect to defense truck procurement competitions and the outcome of such competitions; the expected level of commercial “package” body and purchased chassis sales compared to “body only” sales; the Company’s ability to integrate acquired businesses and achieve expected synergies; the Company’s ability to close the Iowa Mold Tooling acquisition; the Company’s estimates of the impact of changing fuel prices and credit availability on capital spending of towing operators; anticipated levels of capital expenditures; the Company’s estimates for costs relating to litigation, acquisition investigation, product warranty, insurance, stock options and restricted stock awards, personnel and raw materials; the Company’s ability to neg
