On Thursday 23 September Mack Defense began delivering its first production M917A3 Heavy Dump Trucks (HDT) to the US Army and the US Army Reserve.
The model is based on the commercial Mack Granite model in an 8×8 wheel configuration.
This is the Army’s first new tactical heavy wheeled truck for 12 years and will be used by engineering units, particularly on major infrastructure projects. Mack Defense was awarded the contract in May 2018, potentially worth $296 million over seven years to produce up to 683 non-armoured and armoured M917A3 HDTs. To date two orders have been placed for 99 HDTs in November 2020 then a further 56 HDTs in March 2021.
The HDT can carry up to 27 tons of payload and has a 13-litre Mack MP8 diesel engine, delivering 440 horsepower, which is compatible with JP8 fuel. Its fuel capacity is 93 gallons.
“Many of the Army’s missions are within extremely austere environments, so if we need to build things to support combat or training operations, dump trucks are absolutely essential to the force,” said Wolfgang Petermann, the US Army’s project manager for Transportation Systems, Program Executive Office for Combat Support & Combat Service Support.
by Andrew Drwiega
