Completed V-22 ITV Certification
MONCh has observed John Deere (Deere) products on a number of US defence installations. It was with particular interest that a new Deere product was spotted at the company’s booth during a walk about this Spring of the AUSA Global exhibition hall floor.
“The Federal/DoD customers have access to almost our entire Agricultural, Construction, Power Systems and Turf portfolio of product solutions. Home station or deployed, Deere has it covered,” Todd Halstead, the company’s Manager of its Military Utility Vehicle Business, said.
At this conference, John Deere was featuring another defence competency – its utility vehicle product line – with a twist. “We’re bringing a rapid customisation capability to bear. If there is a requirement that ‘sort of fits’ with what our off-the-shelf offering is, we are able, with our partner IAS (Blaine, Minnesota (US)), to rapidly customise it to their specific need – this is purpose-built, customisation for the warfighter,” the Cary, North Carolina (US)-based Sector Expert emphasised.
John Deere designs and manufactures the chassis, power train and other baseline vehicle components. IAS then customises the vehicle to meet the stringent needs of the federal/military customer.
John Deere defence products have been delivered to US military services and overseas military organisations through direct sales. And this makes sense according to Mr. Halstead: “The nice thing about Deere is we have global reach in terms of parts, dealers and support. Whether we sell it to the US DoD and then is deployed, we can support it, or we can sell it through our global dealer network.”
Deere featured a new utility vehicle offering (titled XUV 865) at the Spring conference which originated in the commercial space, and has many features including three-passenger seating, heating and air conditioning. The XUV 865 offered another instance of IAS custom modifying a Deere utility vehicle. Specifically, the new utility vehicle’s bed, “meets or exceeds MIL-STD-209K for lift and tie down. IAS has been able to add helpful features like an integrated access panel in the vehicle bed for easy service access, run-flat and bead-lock wheel and tire options and others to offer the end-user flexibility in terms of their requirements,” the industry veteran pointed out.
Bill Britz, the Chairman of IAS, emphasised: “Everything we do is federal business, we have a ‘federal bent’. We’re building on our six-year relationship with Deere.”
At this conference, an IAS-built and furnished tactical vehicle trailer (4,000 lb (1,814 kg) payload), was also on display. The trailer provides ruggedness and flexibility for road transporting M-GATOR vehicles and also features integrated ball and pintle hitches for towing behind commercial and military vehicles. Beyond the trailer, the corporate leader further indicated his company also enhanced the XUV 865’s suspension and provided additional custom modifications to meet other US government operating standards.
As of this interview, John Deere-IAS have completed V-22 ITV (Internally Transportable Vehicle) Certification on their A3-MC and A3-MC XL vehicles. The IAS TrailBreaker Utility Trailer is also V-22 ITV Certified. The XUV 865 Military variant is expected to begin certification this year.
All John Deere-IAS diesel models can also run on JP-8.
For additional information to include availability please go to www.iasmn.com and select the Utility Vehicles or Utility Trailers drop downs
Marty Kauchak
