Military vehicle industry keeps an eye on Army for change to electrification push

GVSETS 2025 — With a new administration in power that’s skeptical of many green initiatives, military vehicle makers said recently they’re keeping their ears out for any changes to the US Army’s push into hybrid vehicles and stand ready to adapt.

“We must be flexible with what the government says is their final requirement, whether it is going to have [those capabilities] in every vehicle, in specific vehicles, we don’t know. That is going to drive our reaction to whatever they come up with,” David Shuler, Rheinmetall’s Program Manager for the Common Tactical Truck program, told Breaking Defense during the GVSETS Conference last week.

Echoing Shuler, GVSETS Chair Thom Green said that the industry must focus on providing what the Army considers the best solutions for its troops.

“It would be really nice if we were able to spend less on the fuel, but still do the same mission. That said, if it’s not providing the capability that soldiers need, then I would rather err on the side of paying for more fuel and keeping the soldiers safe than worrying about hybridization,” Green said.

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While the Army hasn’t announced a rollback of broad initiatives to pursue electric-powered or vehicles with hybrid capabilities, Valde Garcia, president of the National Defense Industrial Association’s Michigan Chapter, said interest appears to be waning.

“There are advantages [in hybrid, electric solutions], but the Army seems to be not as focused on electrification and, to some degree, hybridization as it was in the past,” Garcia said.

A spokesperson for the Army did not respond to Breaking Defense’s request for comment for this report.

In 2021, the Army Materiel Command (AMC) determined that all new vehicle leases, lease renewals and purchases should prioritize all-electric non-tactical vehicles (NTVs) followed by hybrids when electric solutions are not commercially available, and conventional gas vehicles by exception only.

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Meanwhile, in 2022, the service issued its “Climate Strategy” establishing guidelines to advance with programs and projects related to fuel efficiency, electrification, operational power generation and battery storage. The paper also stated that the Army should field light-duty fully electric non-tactical vehicles by 2027 and all-electric NTVs by 2035. The branch also conducted multiple experiments to add hybrid capabilities to its current fleet.

But since coming into office, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has made it clear the Pentagon would not pursue climate initiatives for the climate’s sake.

“Look at a lot of the climate programs that have been pursued at the Defense Department. The Defense Department is not in the business of climate change, solving the global thermostat,” he said in February. “We’re in the business of deterring and winning wars. So, things like that we want to look for to find efficiencies and many others — the way we acquire weapons, system procurement.”

That said, part of the Army’s previous reasoning for pursuing electric vehicles was tactical. For instance, electric vehicles much quieter and don’t require the logistics train that comes with fuel.

US Army Maj. Curtis Cranston, associate professor at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, said on a panel at the GVSETS Conference that “while DoD acquisition programs have pursued innovation in hybrid electric drive, they have been forced to do so slowly, and are now at risk of stalling”.

“Our peer adversaries are beginning to move rapidly toward hybrid power modernization. For us, there are formidable barriers that continue to stall and threaten to completely halt tactical vehicle innovation in the near term, including the political barriers and challenges,” Cranston said.

Robert Haywood, Business Development Director of Electrification at Gore Aerospace and Defense, said that politics around this area often see it as “being just green or sustainable.”

“That might be a nice bonus, but electrical hybridization is all about operational efficiency, more capability for extended range, reduced risk of running out of fuel,” he said.

Still, the Army may have other ideas. “It is important that the Army maintains the cutting edge, but it is not impossible that they get out of developing it for other reasons,” Haywood said.