Oshkosh Defense wins $6 billion contract to manufacture 77new Post Office mail truck
June 28 - July 4, 2021
By Daily Record Staff
Oshkosh Defense, the same Wisconsin defense contract that beat about Lockheed Martin industrial site in South Arkansas for the U.S. military’s new everyday vehicle, announced on June 22 that it has also won the $6 billion contract to build a new mail carrier van for the U.S. Postal Service.
Oshkosh Defense, which is a subsidiary of publicly traded Oshkosh Corp., said it plans to open a dedicated facility in Spartanburg, S.C., where it will build the USPS’s so-called “Next Generation Delivery Vehicle,” or NGDV. The Wisconsin defense contractor said it expects to hire over 1,000 local team members at the Spartanburg facility, and on-site supply chain partners are expected to have additional hiring needs.
The USPS selected Oshkosh Defense for the multi-billion-dollar NGDV contract in February 2021 at the end of a competitive process that began in 2015. The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract provides for the delivery of between 50,000 and 165,000 vehicles over a period of 10 years.
The Post Office vehicles will replace the existing fleet of mail carriers, many of which have been in service for more than 30 years. Oshkosh’s said it will provide a modern fleet of both zero-emission battery electric vehicles (BEV) and fuel-efficient low-emission internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, with the option of producing any combination of models.
“Oshkosh Corporation’s advanced engineering capabilities have been driving the Company for more than a century,” said Oshkosh President and CEO John Pfeifer. “That innovation has included a commitment to engineering and delivering a wide range of electric vehicles featuring new sustainable technologies. Now the Company’s innovative NGDV will bring these sustainable technologies into more American neighborhoods.”
Oshkosh Defense said it plans to repurpose an expansive warehouse facility in Spartanburg with the innovative features needed to accommodate a large-scale manufacturing operation that meets the technical requirements of producing cutting-edge vehicles for the USPS. Production of the NGDVs is expected to begin summer 2023.
“We’re proud to bring this historic undertaking to Spartanburg,” said Oshkosh Defense President John Bryant, who is also executive vice president Oshkosh Corp. “Upstate South Carolina has a skilled workforce and a proven history in advanced automotive manufacturing—it’s the perfect place to produce the NGDV. More importantly, we know the people of Spartanburg take pride in their work and their community. What we build together here will reach every home in the country.”
In August 2015, Oshkosh Defense’s profile was raised in the defense industry sector when it beat out Lockheed Martin for the highly touted, $30 billion contract to build the U.S. military’s next-generation field vehicle that follows in the line of the original Jeep and popular, but bulky Humvee.
After the Arkansas Legislature approved the passage of a $87 million bond financing package in late May 2015, Lockheed officials said they would invest more than $125 million to build the so-called Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) in their East Camden industrial factory, which was projected to bring an estimated 1,300, high-paying direct and indirect jobs to South Arkansas.
Under the Pentagon’s original contract, the U.S. Army plans to eventually purchase 49,099 JLTV’s, while the Marine Corps plans to eventually buy 5,500 of the vehicles through 2040. In February, Oshkosh Defense delivered its 10,000 JLTV and said it had received 18,126 new orders valued at over $6 billion. Over 6,500 of those new vehicles have been fielded with U.S. military personnel and allies around the globe, including over 30 U.S. and international military installations.
Among many things, the all-terrain JLTV that comes in two- and four-seat versions and can support a range or urban and in-the-field military operations. Able to support a payload of more than 3,500 pounds, the armored vehicle can be outfitted with lightweight mounted weapons capable of killing armor at between 15 and 20 times the range of the Army’s M1 Abrams main battle tank.
Last April, the U.S. Marine Corp invited the defense industry to submit ideas for transforming its heavy weapons mounted JLTVs into mobile air defense systems for tracking and killing enemy drones, helicopters, and fighters with its vMADIS Mk1 weapons system. The U.S. Marines also announced plans in the fall to load up the vehicles with a XM914E1 30mm cannon to track and destroy enemy drones and aircraft.
The JLTV also comes outfitted with a mobile command center with a C4ISR network system and Remote Weapon Systems that let soldiers operate weapons without having to leave the safety of the cab. The Pentagon refers to the C4ISR network as the “nervous system” of the U.S. military that it used to maximize situational analysis. The military acronym stands for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
1. The U.S. Post Service has selected Oshkosh Defense for the $6 billion contract award to build more than 165,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) for the nation's mail carriers. This is the first upgrade to the Post Office's daily mail truck in more than four decades.
2. Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense beat out Lockheed Martin's industrial site in Camden in 2015 for the $30 billion contract award to build the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The JLTV (above) is the U.S. military's next generation, everyday vehicle that is replacing the Humvee and its forerunner, the Jeep.
