OSHKOSH, WIS. (May 4, 2001) – After almost a decade of development and more than 180,000 miles of rigorous testing, Oshkosh Truck Corporation (NASDAQ: OTRKB), a leading manufacturer of trucks and truck bodies, announced today that it has shipped the first group of its revolutionary, tactical vehicle, the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR), to the U.S. Marine Corp for initial fielding.
From Wisconsin, Oshkosh’s home state, the first trucks are headed around the world aboard Marine, maritime pre-positioning ships, after a stop at Blount Island Command, near Jacksonville, Fla.
The shipment comes just days after the company received approval for full-rate production, known in military circles as Milestone III, several months ahead of contract schedule.
“If a fighting force is only as fast as its slowest truck, the U.S. Marines unquestionably have the fastest off-road capability of any fighting force in the world,” said Robert G. Bohn, Oshkosh’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Throughout history, armies have stalled because supplies couldn’t keep up with the fighting forces. No Marine will ever be stalled waiting for this truck to keep up.”
“The fielding of these advanced military trucks provides the Marines with the most advanced defense truck ever made. Not only is the MTVR technologically more advanced than any other medium-sized military truck, it is so dependable it performed five times better than required during testing,” said Bohn. “The combination of extreme mobility, advanced technology, ease of use and dependability is an unbeatable combination in a military truck. The MTVR is the new benchmark of value for the military and, ultimately, the U.S. taxpayer.”
The highly mobile MTVR is the linchpin of the Marine Corps’ plan to modernize its logistics truck fleet. The new MTVR will replace trucks that are based on a 1949-1950 design. The Marine Corps has been using these old-style trucks for the last 20 years to transport troops and equipment into combat. Whether carrying personnel and supplies for battle, or food and emergency supplies in peacekeeping missions, the MTVR will fill the transportation mobility gap created by the older medium-payload vehicles.
The new MTVR can run with any ground-based military vehicle in the field, even keeping pace with M1 tanks. Its mission profile is 70 percent off-road and 30 percent on-road. Central to the truck’s extreme mobility is Oshkosh’s proprietary TAK-4® independent suspension system. The TAK-4 system is capable of 16 inches of vertical wheel travel. (That’s comparable to what off-road dune buggies have for races such as the Baja 500.) Independent suspension offers better handling on paved roads too, but off-road, independent suspension provides vastly improved comfort, better traction, more upright stability, higher ground clearance and better suspension durability. In addition, it provides better overall vehicle durability because it filters out high frequency, low-amplitude vibrations that shake vehicle components loose.
The MTVR can:
- Ford five feet of water
- Carry a 7-ton payload cross-country and 15 tons on-road
- Climb and descend a 60-percent grade
- Handle a 30-percent side slope with its maximum cross-country payload
- Travel at 65 mph on paved surfaces
- Speed over 12-inch bumps, or half rounds, at 20 mph
- Cruise for 300 miles on a single tank of fuel
- Be transported in a C-130 airplane and by CH-53 helicopter.
Oshkosh Truck Corporation [NASDAQ: OTRKB] 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 and Medtec brand names. The company is headquartered in Oshkosh, Wis., and had annual sales of $1.324 billion in fiscal 2000.
