You all know Ive been pretty bummed lately about the overzealous adoption of the MRAP and its inevitable influence on the demise of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program.
Weve already reported here that the Pentagon ordered a reassessment of the program, in effect delaying it until the DoD is interested and has the money to devote to it - again. I have a problem with this because its well past time to replace the Humvee and there are a lot of great companies with great ideas out there chomping at the bit to build the Jeep of the future for the military.
While I was at the Modern Day Marine expo last week I spoke with Rod Millen, a renowned international rally racer and vehicle designer. His Tustin, Calif.-based company, Millenworks, has developed a series of manned and unmanned military tactical vehicles and his company is working with the Army to develop the MULE unmanned cargo carrier for FCS.
But at the show, his most impressive piece of gear was the Light Utility Vehicle, or LUV.
With both electric and diesel drive trains, and a top speed of 76 mph, the LUV cuts a clearly rally car-inspired line. Its huge ground clearance, a three-seat-across front cockpit (with center driver consol) and scalable armor packages Millenworks has definitely put forth a pretty strong candidate for the JLTV program.
Too bad there really isnt one anymore.
-- Christian
