Mack Trucks announced that it has received an award of about $28.5 million from the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command for heavy-duty tractors and trailers.
Under the terms of the award, the company will, over the next three years, deliver 152 Mack Vision Elite model tractors (known domestically as the Mack Pinnacle Axle Back model) configured as 70-inch high-rise sleepers, as well as the same number of 35-ton lowboy trailers. Spare parts also will be provided.
“Mack is extremely pleased with this opportunity,” says Dennis Slagle, president and chief executive officer of the Lehigh Valley, Pa.-based truck maker. “We’ve earned our corporate symbol, the Bulldog, by providing tough, tenacious trucks for more than a century. The products we offer today retain that same level of durability and reliability, but feature a level of engineering, technology and comfort that customers 100, 50 or even 10 years ago would not have imagined.”
Mack also received an award of more than $1 million from the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) for the optimization of a commercially available “off-the-shelf” heavy-duty diesel engine to operate on JP-8, a fuel traditionally used in jets and commonly available to the military throughout the world. The Mack MP8 engine will be the centerpiece of this R&D effort.
“Mack’s long tradition of heavy-duty engine design leadership is a great asset for this project,” says Tom Kelly, Mack senior vice president of product portfolio management. “We can draw upon tremendous resources and knowledge in adapting the Mack MP8 to this need.”
Mack also received an award of about $8.6 million from TACOM for 66 Mack Granite Elite model tractors (known domestically as the Mack Granite Axle Back model) over the next three years. The vehicles will be built at Mack’s Macungie assembly operations plant located just outside of Allentown, Pa. Spare parts also will be provided.
“We’re confident that as we move forward together with TACOM and TARDEC in the execution of these agreements, it will be clear that turning to Mack was the right choice,” Kelly says.
