Mack celebrates delivery of first Heavy Dump Truck as part of $296M Army contract

Mack Trucks on Thursday celebrated the delivery of the first M917A3 Heavy Dump Truck to roll of its Allentown production line as part of a contract with the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserve.

In May 2018, the U.S. Army awarded Mack Defense the contract that could be worth up to $296.4 million over seven years to produce up to 683 non-armored and armored M917A3 HDTs.

Wolfgang Petermann, the U.S. Army’s project manager for Transportation Systems, said that the Army has been operating with trucks that are nearly 50-years old.

“Now is the perfect time to provide the Engineer Regiment with modified commercial off-the-shelf capabilities leveraging the strength of the commercial auto and heavy-duty trucking industry,” Petermann said. “Today’s ceremony is a huge milestone in delivering that enhanced capability, which is better equipped to maintain the operational pace of the modern battlefield. I’m proud of the hard-working Heavy Dump Truck team that has brought us to this point.”

The production line in the Mack Experience Center is in Mack’s former Customer Adaptation Center, where vehicle modifications occurred.

The Customer Adaptation Center has since moved to Mack’s Lehigh Valley Operations in Macungie, where all Mack Trucks Class 8 vehicles are assembled.

Production of the HDTs began in the first quarter of the year, following an investment of $6.5 million to create a dedicated HDT production line at the facility.

The new HDTs were designed to increase the U.S. Army’s operational effectiveness and readiness, while supporting mobility, counter-mobility, survivability and sustainment operations for the Joint Force.