The US Navy has awarded two contracts to Oshkosh Corporation to continue research on future generation vehicle technologies for naval land systems.

Under the first contract, the company will perform hybridisation and repower research trials for the US Marine Corps’ Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement to enhance the vehicle’s fuel efficiency while maintaining its mobility, performance and effectiveness.

The company will incorporate a capacitor-based energy storage system onto the vehicle to store energy during vehicle deceleration and idle periods eventually reducing engine and fuel demands.

Under the second contract, Oshkosh will develop an advanced and lightweight synchronous generator that can be used on diesel-electric military vehicles to reduce the generator’s weight by 40% while maintaining the vehicle’s performance and power qualities.

The second contract also includes the development of a next-generation traction system with enhanced functional capability for off-road mobility.

The work on both the contracts will continue till the end of 2011 and will be carried out by Oshkosh Defense in collaboration with the Office of Naval Research, Marine Corps PEO Land Systems.