The Slovenian defense ministry last week received its new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, known popularly as JLTV.
The batch of Oshkosh’s newest light tactical vehicles arrived at the Port of Koper on May 11.
“Yesterday, new JLTV 4×4 light armored vehicles from Oshkosh arrived at the port of Koper, which Slovenia bought from the United States… The purchase includes 38 JLTV 4×4 light armored vehicles with an integrated M153 Kongsberg remotely operated weapon station,” the Defense Ministry said.
Slovenia awarded the contract for the JLTVs in 2018, the deal was signed by the then Minister of Defense Karl Eryavec. The purchase of vehicles, equipment, training and weapons systems will cost 32 million euros.
Slovenia became the second Balkan state to receive the new JLTV. The United Kingdom, Lithuania, Belgia, and Montenegro have also signed on to buy JLTV.
The JLTV is a tactical wheeled vehicle which includes hull designs that are built to optimize survivability against a full range of blast and ballistic threats, including protection from underbelly blasts, and an “intelligent” suspension system that can be raised and lowered for off-road conditions. It was designed to bridge the capability gap in balanced protection, performance, and payload between the lighter Humvee and the more heavily armored Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.
The JLTV program is a U.S. Army-led program in collaboration with the U.S. Marine Corps to replace a portion of each branch’s light tactical vehicle fleets. The new truck was designed to boost protection and provide improved maneuverability, transportability, maintainability and connectivity to 21st-century battlefield networks.