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.
Contracts
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Recognizes Mack Defense For Boosting U.S. Exports
ALLENTOWN, PA (May 28, 2019) – Three eastern Pennsylvania companies are among 48 U.S. firms given “E” awards by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on May 28 for boosting U.S. exports using “innovative” marketing.
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 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.”
Canada Armed Forces Takes Delivery Of 1st Mack Defense Kerax Trucks
ALLENTOWN, PA (Nov. 29, 2018) – Canada Armed Forces Takes Delivery Of 1st Mack Defense Kerax Trucks.
The Valcartier military base has begun receiving the first of its 300 new standardized military trucks that are part of the new Canadian Armed Forces fleet.
Medium support vehicles, designed by Mack Defense, will replace the existing fleet that was acquired in the 1980s and is nearing the end of its useful life. Of the 1,500 new trucks in the country, 450 are destined for Quebec, including more than 300 at the Valcartier military base, where nearly a dozen vehicles have been delivered.
Kenya Receives Mack Defense Bastion Vehicles
ALLENTOWN, PA (Nov. 28, 2018) – The United States Government handed over 12 Mack Defense Bastion armoured personnel carriers to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) on 19 November, the US Embassy in Kenya announced. The vehicles were officially handed over at the Kahawa Barracks in Nairobi. The contract was awarded to Mack Defense and the vehicles are part of a batch of 62 procured for several African countries under an order announced by the US Department of Defense in 2015.
Cameroon’s Bastion APCs Now In Action
“The Cameroonian Rapid Intervention Battalions (BIR) are now fielding Mack Defense Bastion armoured personnel carriers (APCs), Jane’s confirmed during a visit to the BIR base at Salak, the headquarters of Operation Alpha, the elite force’s deployment in the Far North Region. A BIR Bastion in Cameroon’s Far North Region in April.”