Lockheed Martin Withdraws Protest Of Oshkosh’s $6.75B Contract To Replace Humvees

Lockheed Martin Corp. withdrew its federal court complaint over a contract awarded by the U.S. Army to Oshkosh Corp. to replace aging Humvee combat vehicles, the world's largest defense contractor said, in a statement Wednesday. The move comes a week after the court denied Lockheed a temporary injunction seeking to halt Oshkosh’s manufacturing of 17,000 new armored vehicles to replace the Humvee.

“After careful deliberation, Lockheed Martin has withdrawn its protest of the JLTV [Joint Light Tactical Vehicle] contract award decision in the Court of Federal Claims,” Lockheed said, in a statement.

Wisconsin-based Oshkosh said last Friday that it would resume work on the JLTV trucks following the court’s decision. In December, Lockheed had filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon over the contract. Lockheed had contested Pentagon’s decision to award the $6.75 billion deal to Oshkosh, stating that the U.S. Army's evaluation of the competing bids was inaccurate because it assessed the reliability of the rival vehicles with the help of different standards.

Last August, Lockheed filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office after the U.S. Army gave the first 17,000 of an estimated 55,000 JLTV fleet manufacturing contract to Oshkosh. But the GAO rejected the challenge despite the late discovery of several documents that Lockheed said provided new grounds for protest. The army will reportedly spend about $30 billion to buy these multipurpose vehicles through 2040.

In recent years, protests over defense contracts have become increasingly common because of a relative lack of long-term military equipment deals.