Dana Holding Corporation has announced that the company's Spicer Central Tire Inflation System (CTIS) is specified on all three of the vehicles that were recently selected by the U.S. Department of Defense for the Army and Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program.
The JLTV program entered into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase earlier this year when six vehicle manufacturers submitted bids for the three contracts. Roughly 22 prototypes will be built over the next 27 months with a full production contract expected to be awarded in 2015 or early 2016.
"In military applications our CTIS systems have proven to be highly effective in reliably and efficiently transporting service members in the most difficult of environments," says Pat D'Eramo, president of Dana Commercial Vehicle Driveline Technologies. "We are honored to once again be selected for this new program."
Spicer CTIS technology maximizes vehicle mobility by allowing operators, from inside the cab, to adjust tire pressure to the optimum footprint on any terrain. This innovative system also allows vehicles to effectively operate with extremely low tire pressures and makes it possible to free a stuck vehicle or take on grades and other extreme conditions, transporting soldiers to safety in the most strenuous environments.
The Dana Spicer CTIS system was included on all six of the vehicles that were originally submitted for the contract. Lockheed Martin, Oshkosh and AM General were the three manufacturers selected for the next phase JLTV program.
Dana's history of support for the U.S. military dates to World War I, when it helped develop the Liberty Truck and produced four-wheel-drive-truck axles, universal joints and anti-aircraft shells. In World War II it earned the Army-Navy "E" Award for "high achievement in the production of war equipment," including the four-wheel-drive system for the Jeep – an advanced version of which it continues to produce more than seven decades later. It has also supplied products for the HMMWV since 1983.
