Oshkosh Corp. (Oshkosh, Wis., USA) announced on Oct. 12 that it has received an additional $408.5 million award from the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command Life Cycle Management Command (TACOM LCMC) for 923 composites-armored MRAP All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATV) to be delivered to the U.S. Armed Forces through March 2010.

This is the fourth award under the M-ATV delivery order first awarded in June 2009, and brings the total number of vehicles Oshkosh will supply to 5,219. The aggregate amount of the four awards is valued at $2.76 billion.

Oshkosh Defense teamed with composites armor manufacturer Plasan North America (Bennington, Vt., USA) to provide an advanced armor solution for the M-ATV. Plasan also developed the armor system used on more than 5,000 legacy MRAPs and thousands of Oshkosh MTVR Armored Cabs already in theater.

“Our customer is preparing to field the first Oshkosh M-ATVs for use by warfighters in the Afghanistan theater of operations,” said Robert G. Bohn, Oshkosh chairman and CEO. “As these vehicles begin making their way onto the battlefield to ensure our men and women are well protected and their missions remain on the move in even the harshest environments, we will continue to make the vehicle’s high-quantity production our top priority and provide any additional program support as needed.”

Oshkosh continues to deliver vehicles ahead of the government’s accelerated schedule and met September’s delivery requirement on Sept. 22. The company will ramp production up to 1,000 vehicles per month in December and continue at that level through at least March 2010. Existing Oshkosh Defense manufacturing facilities have available production capacity for all current and pending military vehicle programs, including M-ATV and the U.S. Army’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV), as well as any surges in production.