The magnificent seven

Options for military truck procurers are gradually dwindling. This article provides an overview of the shrinking European marketplace.

There are some purpose-designed military trucks serving with armed forces across Europe, but the vast majority of military load-carrying fleets are made up of commercially available or commercially derived models. These are of course militarised to varying degrees, from a coat of flat green or sand paint to full a full EMC/FFR package and an armoured cab. While, armoured cab aside, a militarised commercial truck can look very similar to its commercial counterpart, and indeed remain mechanically very similar in most cases, one significant and unseen difference between the two types is that of life cycle/life expectancy. On average, a medium or heavy commercial truck will cover around 161,000 km (100,000 miles) per year, and have a life expectancy of around 11 years. Figures for a military load carrier are very different.

Many readers will no doubt recall stories of trucks emerging from military surplus auctions with minimal mileage despite their often-advancing years. The author is one of those, having taken delivery of an ex-British Army AEC Militant Mk3 back in 1995 that was over 20 years old, with just around 9656 km (6,000 miles) on the clock. That worked out at just 483 km (300 miles) of use per year. While deployments to places such as the former Yugoslavia and then Iraq and Afghanistan have certainly placed greater demand on military logistics overall, the most recently available figures suggest that average annual mileage figures for a military load carrier is still less than the 16,100 km (10,000 miles) of the average family car in the UK. That works out at just 10% of what a contemporary commercial truck will cover.

Life expectancy is also an area of great difference. While a percentage of commercial trucks do go on to a second life with a lower-tier user, the majority do not. Technically most could, as the chassis, the backbone of any truck would likely still be solid, and for as long as spare parts remain available, most could theoretically be kept running. That said, the spiralling cost of labour-intense increased maintenance is the death knell here. While manufacturers will never readily admit this, like everything, trucks have an inbuilt desired shelf-life, and key to this is the cab.

Reflecting on the author’s own Mk3 Militant; when shipped back from Germany and despite their age, the chassis and automotives were as good as new for the most part; but the cab? Rotten, with virtually no floor and minimal bulkheads left. This situation was mirrored when the British Army carried out a mid-life refresh of their Bedford TM fleet in the mid-1990s. At under 15 years of age, the trucks were in reasonably good mechanical order, and this is what made the project viable. However, the standard commercial cabs were rotten, and without repair a large percentage the fleet would quickly have become unserviceable based on this alone.

As the Bedford refresh highlights, militaries do retain truck fleets way beyond what would commercially be considered viable, and almost always with some form of mid-life refurbishment. With what is effectively a trained in-house workforce and a product that is little used, the refurbishment option is almost always more cost effective than any fleet replacement. This approach sees the average service life of a commercially based/derived military load carrier stretching to between 20 and 30 years.

For a purpose-designed military truck, life expectancy can be even longer. In many cases, it is simply obsolescence and legislative issues that will see a fleet retired and not the fact that they are worn out. Taking the US Army as an example, the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV), which are a military-specific design delivered with an effective useful life (EUL) of 25 years, but with an expectation that a Reset or Recapitalization (Recap) programme, which is factored into the original design of the truck, will add up to a further 25 years of life.

Even with the 20 to 30 years life expectancy of a militarised commercial, it might be an obvious statement, but by the time fleet replacement does come around, the market place for a new buy will have changed somewhat. There will, almost certainly, be no one within the procurement environment to have witnessed the change, but life experiences within an ever more global and contracting world should perhaps prepare one for this.

A shrinking market

Using the British Army as an example, the current core of the military truck fleet was purchased to replace fleets of trucks bearing the British-owned and British-built brands Bedford, Foden, Leyland, and Scammell. When these fleets were procured, the choices available to the UK MoD’s procurers included around 10 UK brands, and if they had wished to look a little farther afield into Europe, at least another 50 options existed. However, by the time those Bedford, Foden, Leyland and Scammell fleets were replaced 20 to 30 years down the line with Oshkosh (US), Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV; Germany) and IVECO (Italy) models, UK purchase options were all but zero, and the technically wider post-Cold War European market had actually contracted to around 25 viable options.

More alarmingly though, if the current Oshkosh, RMMV and IVECO fleets were up for renewal as this article was being written, realistic options for UK procurers for potentially all but the most specialist application chassis would be just seven manufacturers. Ok, when options for some of the possible smaller buys – heavy equipment transporters (HETs), tankers and similar specialist chassis – are included, and the net widened to include the United States and others, options increase to roughly 15 manufacturers. That figure, like so many statistics is arguably a subjective one, but no degree of revision will revise numbers to any great extent, and the key takeaway here of a reduction in potential suppliers for bulk military truck fleets from almost 60 two generations ago to around seven in 2024 is arguably rather alarming.

So, who are the seven remaining suppliers? Alphabetically, these are: Daimler Truck (offering the Mercedes-Benz marque); IVECO Defence Vehicles (IDV; part of IVECO and offering IVECO trucks); Renault; RMMV (offering RMMV and MAN trucks in a joint venture with MAN); Scania; TATRA; and Volvo. For clarity, MAN and Scania are part of TRATON, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, and Renault is owned by Volvo.

Most who have even limited knowledge of the commercial truck marketplace will be asking where DAF might be on that list, with the company having a sizeable 15% market share for heavy truck sales within Europe. Quite simply, DAF (which is owned by US company Paccar) does not offer true all-wheel drive or military trucks. The so-called DAF CF trucks currently supplied to the Belgian MoD are in fact TATRA Phoenix models, with the Phoenix range using a DAF cab and Paccar engine.

So what truck options do the seven offer? Well, before answering that question, let’s take a quick look at those concerns that might be able to offer something for a more specific low-volume requirement, or those that might be considered an ‘outsider’.

Alternatives to the ‘big seven’

Finland’s Sisu is a relatively small specialist truck manufacturer producing around 600 trucks per year, and predominantly tailored to their home and surrounding countries’ markets and requirements. Current Sisu commercial Polar models are based around cabs and aggregates supplied predominately by Daimler. However, Sisu has previously designed and produced military-specific models, and no doubt could do so again if required. Elsewhere, Spain’s URO offer a range of 4×4 trucks that in the broadest of terms are comparable to the Mercedes-Benz Unimog.

Arquus was created following a November 2016 Volvo Group announcement that the company had decided to divest itself of its defence business, Volvo Group Governmental Sales (VGGS). This attempted divestment was halted in November 2017 after attracted bids fell substantially short of Volvo’s expectation. In 2018, the Volvo Group restructured its government sales entities, dissolving VGGS in the process, and in May 2018 Renault Trucks Defense, (which included the ACMAT and Panhard brands), along with some other former VGGS elements, was renamed Arquus. In January 2024, it was announced that subject to regulatory approvals and similar, that Belgium’s John Cockerill would acquire Arquus.

Arquus has previously offered the Sherpa Medium range of tactical trucks, and this evolved to become the Armis range. Projected 4×4 and produced 6×6 Sherpa/Armis have been a proprietary design, while 8×8 Sherpa models have been based on the Renault Kerax, and 8×8 Armis models are based on the Renault K series. Arquus have recently been awarded a contract to supply France’s DGA with up to 376 8×8 specialist fuel trucks. Arquus also offers the well-established ACMAT VLRA. Following the dissolution of VGGS is 2018, both Renault and Volvo have quietly reestablished a military truck footprint for themselves.

Jelcz of Poland have previously produced ranges of trucks, buses and trolleybuses, but since 2004 the company has been owned by Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW), part of Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), and which now only produces military trucks. As yet, Jelcz still has to break into the export market, but there is no technical reason why it could not.

BMC (BMC Otomotiv Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.) is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in Türkiye and its products include commercial trucks, buses, military trucks and armoured vehicles. The company will build Türkiye’s new main battle tank (MBT). With militarised examples of the current Tuğra range, penetration into some segments of the European market place is possible. Full penetration could be hindered by a joint 49/51% Qatari/Turkish ownership of the company, with the Turkish co-owners reportedly having close ties to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Türkiye’s President.

ROMAN of Romania technically still trade, but after losing out on a large contract to supply the Romanian Armed Forces with a new fleet of trucks to IDV, the future of the company is in some considerable doubt.

Across the Atlantic, and currently active in the military truck market are Mack, Navistar and Oshkosh. Mack is owned by Volvo and Navistar are part of TRATON, so even if the configuration and design differences of European vs US commercial trucks did not negate any real chance of US trucks being suited to European military requirements, the fact that both Volvo and TRATON are local and have home market alternatives most certainly does. The Mack trucks recently supplied to Canada to meet the Medium Support Vehicle System (MSVS) Standard Military Pattern (SMP) requirement are in fact badge-engineered Renault Kerax.

On the other hand, Oshkosh produces only tactical and special-purpose trucks, and while realistically no European military is going to adopt something like the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) or Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) for mainstream roles, there most definitely are options for use in more specialist roles. The UK selected a derivative of an Oshkosh heavy equipment transporter (HET), used by the US Army, and also uses a derivative of the US Marines’ Oshkosh Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) in a fuel resupply role. In service, these trucks have performed exceptionally well, and the HETs delivered in 2001 under a Private Finance Initiative (essentially leased) have – based on condition, serviceability and other factors ­– just had a contract extension awarded. The MTVRs were delivered from 2004, and as of 2024 remain in use with no indication given of pending refurbishment or replacement required anytime soon.

Finally, we have Kia of South Korea. Until recently, Kia military trucks were a dated evolution of old US 2.5- and 5-ton designs, but the more recent introduction of new-generation trucks and breakthrough sales of other Kia products into the European market suggest that future options may well exist for this South Korean manufacturer.

The ‘big seven’

Anything from Japan or Russia/Belarus would probably not be a realistic option for European buyers, for very different but equally obvious reasons. China’s numerous producers can be excluded for a selection of reasons, including but not limited to overall quality and levels of technology. The quality and technology comments would also apply to India. Volkswagen produce a range of medium and heavy trucks optimised for the Americas, although even if the group had no other local option, these would not really be suited to European operations.

The aforementioned ‘big seven’ primary options available for European buyers start (alphabetically) with Daimler Truck AG. For clarity, Daimler Truck AG was established in 2019, and the company was spun off by Daimler AG in October 2021 as a separate listed company, with the Mercedes-Benz Group still owning 35% of the company. Mercedes-Benz is a marque of Daimler Truck AG, as is Freightliner, Western Star, Fuso and BharatBenz. The full Mercedes-Benz range can be delivered for military applications with militarisation ranging from little more than a coat of camouflage paint through to full tactical specifications that includes an armoured cab option for some models. Modifications to militarised chassis are carried out on main production lines in Germany (volume and complexity dependent) or at Mercedes-Benz’s Custom Tailored Trucks (CTT) facility in Molsheim, France.

The Mercedes-Benz range covers two- to four-axle designs, with numerous cab, chassis, body and automotive options available, thus allowing for roles from the lightest duty 4×4 general service type through to the heaviest duty heavy equipment transport to be met. Depending on actual role and user requirements, Mercedes-Benz would for all but third line or logistic support roles, normally offer the well-known high-mobility Unimog, the Arocs or the Zetros. Commercially, the Arocs would be classed as a heavy/arduous-duty truck targeted predominantly at the construction and similar sectors, while the bonneted Zetros was designed from the outset to be optimised for markets with limited infrastructure.

Further reinforcing the continuing evolution of the truck production segment, IVECO Defence Vehicles was only established in 2022 when what is now the IVECO Group NV (consisting of IVECO Truck, IVECO Bus, and IDV) was, as part of Fiat Industrial S.p.A., spun off by CNH Industrial.

Going forward, IDV’s military offering will be based around the Modular Military Range (MMR); an example of this was displayed publicly for the first time at Eurosatory 2022. The MMR is currently complimented by militarised Trakker commercial models and ASTRA-produced tactical models, and for lighter applications, militarised EuroCargo commercial models. When current deliveries conclude, the MMR, in a wide variety of configurations, will replace the Trakker and ASTRA models. EuroCargo models will remain available, and mildly militarised examples of the T-Way, the Trakker’s commercial replacement, will also be available.

Until 2008, Renault products were supplied for military applications via Renault Trucks Defense (RTD). Renault is owned by Volvo and in 2018 Volvo restructured its defence activities and established Arquus. Arquus introduced the Sherpa tactical range of trucks and technically offered militarised Renault commercial models. However, subsequent to the establishment of Arquus, both Volvo and Renault have again offered their respective commercial ranges with varying degrees of militarisation. Renault’s current commercial ranges are the K, C, D and T, with the K and D ranges available in all-wheel drive configurations. Interestingly, and no doubt to show intent, Renault for the first time in a number of years will be displaying trucks at Eurosatory 2024.

Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) was established in 2010 as the merger of the military truck activities of the then MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG with Rheinmetall’s wheeled military vehicle activities. RMMV is now part of Rheinmetall’s Vehicle Systems Division. RMMV offers the HX range, a purpose-designed tactical truck range based around MAN aggregates, and militarised examples of MAN’s commercial TGM and TGX product lines. As with Daimler and IDV, the available range includes tactical and mildly militarised options, and covers, from the lightest duty 4×4 general service type, through to the heaviest-duty HET.

Scania does not offer military-specific products as such. The company’s range of trucks for defence applications are based on the modular use of components from the company’s extensive range of commercial models and with the minimum use of modified or non-standard components. This approach still enables the company to meet all applications from the lightest duty 4×4 general service type through to the heaviest duty heavy equipment transporter, with options including an armoured cab.

TATRA is by some considerable distance the smallest of the seven suppliers examined in this article. During 2023, Daimler Truck, the largest of the seven, sold over 520,000 commercial vehicles worldwide, while TATRA increased sales by a healthy 7% to 1,450 units. With the exception of the TATRA Tactic, which was designed specifically to meet the needs of the Czech Army, all TATRA trucks are based around TATRA’s trademark tubular backbone-style frame and swinging half-axles, with the brand considered to be best suited to arduous/severe duty applications. Being a genuine modular concept, TATRA’s backbone tube chassis has been produced with up to seven axles.

In addition to the more conventional and light tactical trucks, TATRA offers the Terra, the T158 Phoenix, and the T815-7, the latter two being the company’s core products. The T815-7 is a military-specific design, although examples have been supplied for fire, rescue and similar roles. The T158 Phoenix range while developed for commercial applications, are ideally suited to military roles of all types. The previously mentioned Belgian ‘DAF’ order is in fact the TATRA Phoenix design.

The Phoenix range did mark a step-change for TATRA in that cab and certain automotives including engine were, for the first time on a truck of backbone tube construction, non-TATRA designed and manufactured. Instead, they were sourced from OEMs, with the cab and engine coming from Paccar. The primary reason behind this change was economic; TATRA was not financially able to develop a new cab or an engine compliant with European emissions. TATRA continues to produce and offer trucks with its own air-cooled engines, gearboxes, transfer cases, axles and other components.

The final of the seven manufacturers in the focus of this article is Volvo of Sweden. Volvo’s interest in defence has been intermittent, however since the intent to divest Arquus became known, that interest has developed again, with Volvo now offering a full range of militarised commercial trucks. Militarisation includes the option of an armoured cab, developed in conjunction with NP Aerospace of the UK and announced in 2023. For the majority of military applications, Volvo would offer the FMX, its arduous/severe duty range, however, as is the case for all commercial vehicle producers, depending on exact role and requirements, the full range could be offered.

Looking ahead to when trucks being ordered and delivered as of 2024 are due for replacement, the question has to be asked: ‘Will we find ourselves in a situation similar to the large jet airliner market and the duopoly of Airbus and Boeing?’

Shaun Connors