Oshkosh Defense Vehicle Has ‘Poor Reliability,’ Tester Says

(Bloomberg) -- The latest version of Oshkosh Corp.’s medium tactical military vehicle has been marred by “poor reliability and degraded functionality” that forced a halt in development testing, according to the Pentagon’s top weapons evaluator.

Variants of the new A2 model of the Army’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles “experienced several failure modes” in early testing with everything from stuck doors to problems with its suspension, sway bar, coolant and engine leaks, sensor failures and driver display unit, Robert Behler said in his new annual test report.

The model may “necessitate a redesign” to meet its requirements, Behler wrote. Testing of the vehicle was suspended in May.

Oshkosh extended its decline on news of the testing report, falling as much as 3.5%. The shares’ 3.9% gain in the 12 months ended Thursday lagged behind advances in broad U.S. indexes.

The Army “has been keen to resume testing as soon as practicable while providing the contractor sufficient time to implement and prove out the corrective actions,” Wolfgang Petermann, project manager for Army Combat Support & Combat Service Support, said in an email.

Forty-three vehicles have been delivered for testing so far by the Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based company. The Army plans to buy as many as 1,185 through 2026, with the first unit equipped by June 2023, he said.

Pat Williams, Oshkosh vice president for Army and Marine Corps programs, said in an email that the company has “applied reliability fixes for issues noted” and “also implemented improvements based on operator input. Prove-out testing has verified the corrective actions and improvements. We expect government reliability testing to resume this month.”

(Updates with Oshkosh shares in fourth paragraph)