The United States Army wants a new heavy duty truck, and the General Tactical Truck program aims to find one. The HX3-CTT from GM Defense and American Rheinmetall Vehicles is among four vehicles that recently won a contract to supply the military with prototypes for large rigs. Other winners came from Mack Defense, Navistar Defense and Oshkosh Defense.
The HX3-CTT has an interchangeable and protected cab and can support drivetrains from 4×4 to 10×10. It has a sophisticated driver assistance system, but the company has yet to elaborate on the exact technology.
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The HX3-CTT uses the American Rheinmetall Vehicles HX3 truck as a starting point. The company sees this as an advantage as US allies such as Germany, Australia, UK, Austria, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Denmark already have trucks in their fleets. This will enable integrated operations and a shared global supply chain.
There is a lot of money at stake on this project. The company that wins the project can supply as many as 5,700 trucks with a value of around $5 billion. However, the final choice was years away. The next step comes in early 2024 when each of these companies will need to supply the Army with three prototypes for evaluation.
The trucks currently in the Army’s fleet are old and lack modern safety technology. The General Tactical Truck Program aims to find replacement vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems, upgrades, fuel efficiency and predictive maintenance. Also, be prepared to drive autonomously when the system is feasible.
GM Defense already has a $214.3 million contract to build 2,065 Infantry Squad Vehicles (ISVs). The model shares its architecture with the Chevrolet Colorado pickup. It can carry nine soldiers. Power comes from a 2.8-liter turbodiesel with 186 horsepower (139 kilowatts) and 369 pound-feet (500 Newton-meters) of torque.
The video below shows the existing HX3 version but not the CTT version:
