JLTV multi-mission weapons carrier?

via Oshkosh Press Release.

“The Oshkosh JLTV is engineered to support a wide range of mission kits and weapon systems required for the modern battlefield,” said John Bryant, Senior Vice President of Oshkosh Corporation and President of Oshkosh Defense. “Our JLTV will replace existing light tactical vehicles with a platform that is flexible, scalable, and customizable for specific missions ‘outside the wire’. We are proud to be demonstrating this JLTV capability.”

The JLTV Family of Vehicles was designed with room for growth to provide Warfighters with next-generation protected mobility in the light vehicle class, while supporting advanced networking and increased fire power. The JLTV General Purpose vehicle on display in the Oshkosh booth is equipped with a Boeing Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS), a Kongsberg Protector LW 30 Remote Weapon System (RWS) with a M230LF cannon, and a communications suite that includes a Thales VRC-111 and Thales VRC-121 VIPER.

The JLTV Utility vehicle on display (shown above) is equipped with the Boeing Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) Launcher including a M3P .50 cal machine gun, M299 launcher with four Longbow Hellfire missiles, sensor suite, and a communications suite including a Thales VRC-111.

A third Oshkosh JLTV, a General Purpose vehicle, will be on the show floor in the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems booth #1911, showcasing Rafael’s Samson RWS Dual Stabilized Remote Weapon Systems (RWS) with M230 LF, and the Trophy Light Active Protection System (APS).

“The JLTV program continues to be run as a model program,” said Dave Diersen, Vice President and General Manager of Joint Programs, Oshkosh Defense

Hmm.  The Army and Marine Corps might have painted themselves into a weird corner when they reclassed the JLTV from being a utility to a combat vehicle.

It could be expected that Oshkosh would push new varieties of the thing, but now its gonna be hard to justify the cost of an anti-air version of the ACV, Stryker, Bradley or anything else when you can strap all kinds of weaponry on this lightweight vehicle...a vehicle that you told lawmakers was combat ready...frontlines combat ready.