WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has primed the pump for roughly $2.2 billion in Humvee sales to foreign countries.
AM General announced Tuesday that Army Contracting Command has awarded the company with a Foreign Military Sales requirements contract to manufacture about 11,560 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles.
While no Humvee order has been publicly minted yet, the agreement allows for the vehicles to be seamlessly ordered by foreign countries over the next five years.
The contract award, according to AM General, signified the level of interest around the world in affordable, light tactical vehicles and will allow the company to “provide a wide range of variants including protected weapons carriers, cargo transporters, communications vehicles and ambulances.”
There are already 250,000 AM General Humvees across 60 countries, the company said in its statement.
Two years ago, AM General lost its bid in the U.S. Army’s Humvee replacement competition to build the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. Instead of protesting the award ultimately handed to Oshkosh, it turned to the international market to continue to grow the Humvee business there.
The company continues to conjure up ways to globally sell Humvees, and at the International Defense Exhibition earlier this year in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the firm told Defense News it was going to sell vehicles to countries based on individual requirements.
[AM General to serve up trucks a la carte]
The Multi-Purpose Truck concept starts with a military-grade rolling chassis taken from technology used in its Humvee. Then a country can design an entire truck around the chassis.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.
