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It seems odd to turn to Oshkosh to build these. I wonder how they compare to Amazon's Rivian vans.
I mean... the previous ones were by Northop Grumman?
Is it really a shock that the US turns to defense companies for this kind of thing?
There was a time when these were built by Jeep/AMC motors. People used to buy these used at auction and drive them after they were retired. And electric delivery vehicles are already built by companies like Rivian and Ford, though I don’t know what the cost difference is.
I would think building a “bespoke” vehicle for USPS would result in more expensive service parts. But I don’t know what kind of service contracts are included with these.
The Grumman LLVs were "bespoke" and have been being used since the 80's??
Yes, and before that they were a general jeep vehicle built by built by Jeep/AMC. They sold the contract to LTV in 1980.
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2018/07/04/neither-snow-nor-rain-a-brief-history-of-the-postal-mail-jeep/
And talking about the US prior to the military industrial complex and post military industrial complex are two different things.
Post WWII its been a revolving door of "defense" company executives having high positions in government.
Remember VP Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton? Remember Halliburton getting no-bid contracts to rebuild Iraq?
My point is: this is the norm now.
Is it stupid? Yes. It is a result of the growth of the power of the military industrial complex? Also yes. Is it what you ought to expect based on past behavior? Fucking obviously.
Bespoke in that they were essentially S-10 pickups with different bodies.
True, but I don't think it's had any link to the aerospace company for a very long time, right?
Rivian doesn't have the production capacity or the knowledge of navigating federal-level bureaucracy. I'd also rather it go to Rivian but I understand why they didn't. I doubt that even Tesla could do it.
Is the rollout happening that quickly? How many are they building in a year? I also can't imagine a company used to building MRAPs can churn vehicles out faster than a conventional automaker...
I'd guess there's a bit of MIC lobbying and chicanery afoot here. Like, it does seem like Oshkosh makes some good vehicles, but there's always pressure to support defense companies when government bidding happens.
Please note that this is completely baseless speculation on my part. I'm an idiot on the internet that knows fuck-all about shit.
My first thought as well. This is par for the course in modern US.