The Belgian Council of Ministers (Conseil des ministres) has cleared the purchase of 322 Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) for the Belgian Land Component (Landcomponent) on Sept. 11. The vehicles, which will be called CLV (Commando en Liaison Voertuigen, “Command and Liaison Vehicle”) in Belgian Army service is being procured from American military vehicle manufacturer, Oshkosh Defense. The contract, which includes a multi-year technical assistance agreement, is worth 135 million euros. The first CLV vehicles are expected to be delivered in 2023. The CLVs will replace the Army’s Iveco Lynx Light Multirole Vehicles (LMVs), which were acquired from Italy’s Iveco and have been in service since 2007.
The Joint Light Tactical Vehicles will be used for command and liaison missions and will better protect personnel from mines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). The integration of a Remote Controlled Weapon Station (RCWS), the FN DeFNder Light 7.62 from FN Herstal, is foreseen on 135 of these vehicles. The deFNder® Remote Weapon Stations provide optimized remote firing capability day and night while keeping the operator completely under armor protection. The deFNder® Light is the light weight remote weapon station of FN Herstal RWS family. It can integrate all FN Herstal machine guns up to 7.62mm caliber and is capable of extreme elevation and depression angles of operation.
The Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) is a light utility/combat multi-role vehicle developed by Oshkosh Defense for the U.S. military under Army-led JLTV program. The U.S. Army approved the JLTV for full–rate production in June 2019 and the vehicle achieved initial operational capability (IOC) with the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) next month. The U.S. Navy and Air Force also plan to field JLTVs in much smaller quantities. In addition to Belgium, two more European countries acquire new JLTV. Montenegro among the first NATO allies will receive new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles – it buys 30 vehicles. Lithuania also to buy almost 200 new Oshkosh Defense-built JLTV.
Oshkosh beat out Humvee-maker AM General and Lockheed Martin in 2015 to build the replacement for the Humvee for both the Army and the Marine Corps. The low-rate initial production contract was worth $6.7 billion, and the entire program is estimated to be worth $30 billion through 2024. Since a production contract was awarded in 2015, Oshkosh says it has delivered 7,500 total vehicles to the U.S. and partners abroad. In its fiscal 2021 budget request, the U.S. Army asked for $894.4 million to buy 1,920 JLTVs. The U.S. government has placed a new $127 million order for 248 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles from Oshkosh. This contract is the third order placed in the last seven months for JLTV production.
