Pentagon Taps Navistar with $880 Million Contract for MRAP Upgrade

 

The U.S. Defense Department awarded Navistar an $880 million contract.

Navistar International won an $880 million contract from the Pentagon to enhance more than 2,700 armored patrol vehicles for the military, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The work will be fulfilled at Navistar's facility in Northeast Mississippi, where the manufacturer of trucks and engines will replace components such as chassis, suspension systems and power trains on 2,717 mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, more colloquially known as MRAPs. The work is expected to be completed in autumn of next year.

"This contract does not provide upgrades for all of the MRAPs Navistar has previously supplied, suggesting there could be a further opportunity for another 1,000 to 2,000" trucks, states a Monday note to investors from Jefferies analyst Stephen Volkmann, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The work on the trucks, which were manufactured to resist roadside bombs targeting U.S. service members in Iraq, is bound to create intelligence jobs and defense jobs for people with security clearance. The upgraded MRAPs will be deployed in Afghanistan, where troops encounter land mines and ambushes.

Based in Illinois, Navistar International specializes in the manufacture of transportation solutions.