ALLENTOWN, PA (June 07, 2019) – M917A3. While that might seem like a random assortment of letters and numbers, it’s the name of the program that Mack Defense has ingrained in its head as it gears up to provide hundreds of heavy dump trucks to the U.S. Army over the next several years.
Armored Trucks
Mack Defense Partners with JWF Defense Systems
ALLENTOWN, PA (May 28, 2019) – Mack Defense announced JWF Defense Systems (JWFDS) will provide the armored cab system for the M917A3 Heavy Dump Truck (HDT) contract the U.S. Army recently awarded to Mack Defense. JWFDS will be responsible for fabricating and painting the complete armored cab system, which will then be installed by Mack Defense. Read more details below.
Mack Defense Introduces M917A3 Heavy Dump Truck at Showcase for Commerce
Mack Defense will display its M917A3 heavy dump truck (HDT) with an armored cab for the first time in public during this year’s 29th annual Showcase for Commerce, a nationally renowned business and industry trade show and defense contracting exhibition May 29-31 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Read more…
Mack Defense Featured In The May Army Magazine
Mack Defense was featured in Army Magazine, discussing the new dump truck testing and its importance to the mobility efforts of the Army. Read more…
Mack Defense Featured On Front Page of Truck & Off-Highway Engineering
Mack Defense was featured on the front page of Truck & Off-Highway Engineering in April, featuring our newly designed HDT vehicle. Read more…
Mack’s First New Heavy Dump Truck Test Vehicles Readying For Army Testing
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo.—The first test vehicles for the Army’s future heavy dump trucks have already rolled off the Mack Defense production line and are undergoing final fittings before delivery to the service in late May or early June for a 40-week round of testing, a company official said here last week.
The first production lot test vehicles are armor capable but won’t be outfitted with armor for the upcoming testing. The company expects to receive another order this spring for five to seven more vehicles in the armored cab configuration for a separate round of blast and survivability testing that will follow the initial testing, Rob Gordon, senior director of Business Development, told Defense Daily April 9 during the Army Engineer Association Industry Exhibition.
The Army’s Mission – Destroy The Mack Heavy Armored Truck
The U.S. Army plans to pay Mack Truck’s defense unit nearly $300 million to build armored dump trucks. But before the new trucks go into the field, the military will try to destroy one or more test models.
“We will literally shoot it with machine guns and blow it up and see what happens,” Lt. Col. Jeff Jurand, the Army’s product manager for heavy tactical vehicles, told Trucks.com.
The Army wants to make sure that soldiers in the armored compartment can survive the effects of a large-scale blast.
“The most important asset to the Army is the soldiers,” Jurand said. “I can buy dump trucks. But I can’t buy, train and replace soldiers.”
Mack Defense lands contract with DLA
Mack Defense LLC of Upper Macungie Township has landed a contract that will bring some work through the Lehigh Valley over the next five years.
Mack on Tuesday announced it was recently awarded a U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) contract, in which the company will supply trucks and tractors — of various sizes and applications — to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies through 2023.
Robert Gordon, senior director of business development for Mack Defense, said the company is one of several recipients in the contract, which has a maximum value of $82.4 million.
Mack’s portion of the work will roll through the Lehigh Valley, as all Mack trucks for the North American market and export are assembled at the company’s 1-million-square-foot plant in Lower Macungie Township that employs about 2,400 people.
Mexican military parades variety of new equipment
The Mexican Marines paraded a single Mack Defense Sherpa Scout armoured patrol vehicle during a 16 September military parade, a design which was considered for procurement several times since 2011 (SEMAR).
The new Mack trucks destined for the Canadian Forces were put through cold temperature testing at the end of January
The new Mack trucks destined for the Canadian Forces were put through cold temperature testing at the end of January.
The tests at the “cold chamber” at the National Research Council’s facility in Ottawa were successful, Department of National Defence officials told Defence Watch.
In July, then Defence Minister Jason Kenney announced that Mack Defense, LLC, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, had been awarded two contracts to provide standard military pattern trucks and related equipment for the Canadian Forces.
Assembly will take place in a Sainte-Claire, Quebec, plant operated by Prevost, one of the firms partnered with Mack.
The overall contract for the project, known by its military acronym as MSVS SMP, is worth $834 million.