Oshkosh |
---|
|
Topic Navigation |
---|
Official Site: OshkoshCorporation.com
Wikipedia: Oshkosh Corporation Page Sections History Photographs Article Index |
History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Oshkosh Corporation page on 2 July 2018, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Oshkosh Corporation, formerly Oshkosh Truck, is an American industrial company that designs and builds specialty trucks, military vehicles, truck bodies, airport fire apparatus and access equipment. The corporation also owns Pierce Manufacturing, a fire apparatus manufacturer in Appleton, Wisconsin. Based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the company employs approximately 14,000 people around the world. It is organized in four primary business groups: access equipment, defense, fire and emergency, and commercial.
Founded in 1917 as the Wisconsin Duplex Auto Company, the company was created to build a severe-duty four-wheel-drive truck. After the first prototype was built, the company began to develop rapidly. This first four-wheel-drive truck, known today as "Old Betsy", is still owned by Oshkosh Corporation and housed in one of its assembly plants in Oshkosh. The vehicle still runs and is used frequently in demonstrations and parades. The first mass-produced truck was the 2-ton Model A, with seven produced in 1918. The 3.5-ton Model B and 5-ton Model F followed. The Model TR, introduced in 1933, was a diversification for the company and was the first rubber tired earthmover ever built.
The Model 50-50, introduced in 1955, was the first truck created specifically for the hauling of concrete. The first ARFF built by Oshkosh was a W Series truck delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard in 1953. Oshkosh has also produced aircraft tow tractors, and in 1968 the company designed and built the U-30, 45 of which were built for the U.S. Air Force to tow the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft.
In 1976 the company won a U.S. Army contract to supply 744 M911 heavy equipment transporters, the first in a long line of U.S. Army contracts that now sees Oshkosh Defense as the sole supplier of medium and heavy tactical trucks to the U.S. Army and Marines.
On August 25, 2015, Oshkosh was awarded the U.S. military's Joint Light Tactical Vehicle contract. The initial JLTV award is valued at $6.75 billion for up to 16,901 vehicles. The procurement objective for JLTV stands at 54,599 vehicles (49,099 Army; 5500 Marines), the estimated program cost being $47.6 billion. JLTV will partially replace the AM General Humvee.
FBI Oshkosh Armored Vehicle View photo of FBI Oshkosh Armored Vehicle - 1.7MB |