Mack Defense was awarded a contract to design, build, and deliver trucks for the prototype and testing phase of the U.S. Army’s Common Tactical Truck (CTT) program.
The prototypes will be used to determine the final requirements for the next generation of trucks to begin modernization and replacement of the Army’s fleet of approximately 35,000 heavy tactical trucks.
Mack Defense will provide three prototype vehicles to the U.S. Army by January 2024 to be tested by the Army in multiple situations to evaluate vehicle performance, efficiency, and durability.
According to Jack Terefinko, CTT program manager at Mack Defense, “the vehicles include an on-road tractor, an off-road tractor, and a load-handling system (LHS) truck each based off our commercial-based vehicle platforms and technologies modified to meet the strict requirements of CTT."
Upon completion of the prototype evaluations and testing in 2025 the Army is expected to launch a separate competition that will lead to production contract for the modernization of the heavy tactical vehicle fleet. According to a Mack Defense release, the Army has stated that an initial production contract could be over 7,000 trucks valued at more than $5.1 billion.
Mack Defense is currently performing two major defense programs of record. Both projects use modified, commercial-based vehicles from the global Volvo Group network.
The first is the U.S. Army’s M917A3 Heavy Duty Dump Truck (HDT). The M917A3 HDT is based on the commercial Mack Granite®model. Serial production began in 2021 and continues in Allentown, PA.
A conceptual rendering of the prototypes of each variant for the Common Tactical Truck, or CTT, family of vehicles.
Photo: U.S. Army
The second active defense program is the Canadian Medium Support Vehicle System - Standard Military Pattern (MSVS-SMP). For the MSVS-SMP program, Mack Defense chose to use the Renault Kerax 8x8 truck, which was used to create five different logistics support vehicle platforms for the Canadian military.
Transaction Authority agreements have also been made with Navistar Defense, Oshkosh Defense, and the American Rheinmetall Vehicles/GM Defense team totaling $24.25 million. The contractors will provide three prototypes of each variant for the Common Tactical Truck, or CTT, family of vehicles.
