A Wisconsin heavy-duty vehicle maker that had an impact during World War II is again manufacturing vehicles that the Pentagon is reportedly using to assist the Ukrainians amid the Russian invasion.
Oshkosh Corporation, which produces Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles, more commonly called MRAPs, along with fire trucks and construction equipment, now have their vehicles on-the-ground in Ukraine, according to "The Claman Countdown."
As Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv to announce another aid package, Oshkosh's MRAPs are also inside the war-torn country, host Liz Claman reported Wednesday.
"Oshkosh has … MRAP all-terrain vehicles in Ukraine," Claman said as she spoke with the company's CEO, John Pfeifer.
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Pfeifer said about 20 percent of his company's manufacturing output is defense vehicles and that the Pentagon primarily purchases tactical-wheeled vehicles rather than more militarily offensive vehicles.
"Those are primarily vehicles that move people and equipment really efficiently and safely [to] where they need to be in these types of conflicts," he said.
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Pfeifer said he could not put a figure on how many Oshkosh vehicles are in Ukraine, because the Department of Defense deploys them where and as needed worldwide.
Claman went on to note the company's financial record reflected a $175 million net-income for 2Q 2023, and that shares are exponentially higher than the approximate half-dollar from one year ago.
Pfeifer reiterated his company does both domestic first-responder and construction vehicles as well as those in the military sector and that those figures reflect the entire company's output.
"We're a big construction equipment supplier. We're the largest municipal fire truck manufacturer in the world," he said. "We do a lot of different products. A lot of that growth was driven by our recovery from the inflationary period and supply-chain disruption. So… you have to look at the whole picture of our portfolio to see what drove those earnings but was a nice return to profitability after a difficult time during supply-chain disruption."
Pfeifer said Oshkosh does an estimated $2 billion in business with the feds.
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When asked if he personally knew that the vehicles had reportedly been deployed to Ukraine, Pfeifer said it would be hard to discern directly because the Pentagon is the ultimate supplier.
"So I actually don't have specific knowledge to exactly what they're putting where, in that conflict," he said. "But we are their biggest supplier of tactical-wheeled vehicles. So, you know, you can kind of take a guess as to whether or not they might be there."
