Walle,
The latest M1113/1114 Humvees have the 6.5L turbos, same as the A2's, call it a Duramax or whatever. The original Humvee engine, the 6.2L was originally used in the CUCV......
Uncle Sam, yes he is looking for a replacement for the Humvee. Will it happen in a YEAR or LESS?? Hell no. Consider this. If the contract was awarded TOMMORROW, how many could a company produce per month? What about spare parts? What about retraining the 1000's of mechanics the military has??? Armored Humvees could be made at the rate of 750 a month... How many humvees are in the inventory?? tons, I am sure.. it would take years to replace them all if they started delivery tommorrow.
If Uncle was so hot to get rid of the humvee, why are litterally 1000's of them being RESET in Kuwait and the stateside ones being rebuilt at every major Army base? Go to Fort Hood, check out the old Dodge Dealership on Ft Hood St turned Contractor M998 rebuild facility for EVERY humvee on Ft Hood? Also, why does Maine Military Authority have a big backlog of humvees waiting to be rebuilt?
http://www.maine.gov/mma/index.shtml
GL has always sold parts.. When I was a LT, I saw brand new parts go to DRMO because of a wrong disposition code, or the Army had too many of them in a warehouse. Was easier to DRMO them then send them back to depot... Seeing a 6.2 or 6.5L means nothing. Hell, when the really nice General Mechanics Tool Kits first came out in the fitted toolbox, one of my bone headed soldiers put a wrong code into the computer, and instead of being issed to a unit, they got sent to DRMO, where they got auctioned off...
I totally agree the if/when Uncle Sam starts to phase out the humvee, they will go to the FMS program for our allies. They will pay alot more than any GL auction could get. Plus that would keep AMG happy with spare parts sales.
At any rate, I take delivery on my M998 from Clark in 3 weeks. My business requires that we get to use as a test bed for some combat ID items we are working on. I'll take my chances that I can buy one now for $30K as opposed to one from GL in pieces for scrap metal value. It's a business expense/write off anyway.
Also, the USMC humvee's were traded off all way pre 9/11 when the military had to justify every dollar spent. With the GWOT, $ for the military will be there, and the USMC wont have to resort to a "garage sale swap meet back door deal" type of thing as before.
I think the day of a GL sold humvee will be the same day they release the "jeeps in a crate" left over from WWII.....