Like the military, honor, duty, commitment, integrity, and loyalty are essential traits in Oshkosh Defense team members. It is no surprise that nearly 11% of the Oshkosh Defense workforce are proud Veterans.
The shared experiences of Warfighters around the world—and a passion for making sure our service men and women make it home safely — drives Oshkosh Defense’s innovation and engineering excellence.
Dr. Jeffry Heggemeier, vice president of engineering at Oshkosh Defense, is no stranger to the demands of the battlefield. He has served in the United States Air Force for more than 20 years in a variety of roles including developing and fielding Directed Energy technology systems. An Afghanistan combat Veteran, Heggemeier led the deployment of new technologies designed to defeat improvised explosive devices, integrated onto an Oshkosh Defense Logistics Vehicle System Replacement (LVSR).
The same dedication and commitment to excellence that Heggemeier displays while serving in the Air Force is what drives his innovative approach to leading the engineering team at Oshkosh Defense. His first-hand experience and unique perspective inspires the engineering team to think about problems and technology differently.
“For us, this isn’t just a job,” he said. “We’re not building a product that’s going to a nameless and faceless person. There is a reason we spend the extra time to get it right.”
Guiding Principles
Oshkosh Defense approaches engineering with two guiding principles: exceeding requirements and solving customer challenges.
“We’re not meeting a checklist, we’re actually innovating solutions to real problems out in the mission field,” Heggemeier said.
System & Vehicle Requirements
Oshkosh Defense vehicles are designed to meet stringent military requirements and survive the rigors of modern combat, including the most extreme conditions on the harshest terrains.
You can see this principle in action across the wide range of vehicles and mobility solutions designed throughout the past five decades. From the Medium Caliber Weapon System designed to empower our forces in the most challenging environments to the unmatched payloads of the proven Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles (FHTV), every design supports the evolving battlefield.
Customer Challenges
At Oshkosh Defense, we design with the future in mind. That’s why we’re committed to working with the United States government to support their modernization efforts through emerging programs and technology advancement on existing programs.
For more than twenty years, Oshkosh has prioritized investments in developing and integrating various electrification systems including diesel-electric, hybrid, and battery electric vehicle (BEV) solutions to reduce fuel consumption for tactical wheeled vehicles. Pioneering new ways to design, test, and refine technologies is the Oshkosh way of moving the industry forward.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want technology for the sake of technology,” Heggemeier said. “We are always looking at innovative technologies to make our products better and serve our customers better.”
The ability to adapt vehicles quickly through targeted, incremental updates is a critical step to meeting the ever-changing needs of the Soldier.
“For 20 to 25 years, the focus was on the War on Terror, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and protecting warfighters in those environments,” Heggemeier said. “Now we’re shifting to other areas of the world, which are changing what capabilities our customers require.”
Incorporating Feedback in the Design Process
For Oshkosh, it is never a choice between advanced technology or a vehicle designed for the extreme demands of combat operations. The team relies on extensive testing and Soldier feedback to ensure exceptional performance that exceeds mission requirements.
Developing physical prototype systems and vehicles allows us to get feedback from warfighters and customers based on something they can actually touch, sit in, and operate. Oshkosh Defense engineers also use virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) prototypes to get feedback quickly in the early stages of the design process.
The Veterans on our team offer first-hand experience and insight throughout every stage of development.
“They’re part of our design process,” Heggemeier said. “That gives us a lot of insight into how we can build a better product.”
Trust and collaboration are central to the design and feedback process at Oshkosh Defense and something leadership takes very seriously. Allowing all voices to be heard results in the safest, most efficient vehicles and technology possible.
“It starts with trust,” Heggemeier said. “Everyone has a different perspective and every perspective is important.”
Always On Mission
Every engineering decision at Oshkosh Defense centers around our mission: “to enable people who dedicate their lives to service to accomplish their missions and return home safely.”
With more than 50 years of engineering excellence and 120 patents, we constantly strive to build a culture of innovation. Whatever project we’re working on, our customers are at the center.
