In recognition of its 100 years of support to the U.S. Army, Allison Transmission will recognize military leaders, Second Lady of the United States Karen Pence and defense industry partners during a ceremony today, Tuesday, Oct. 9 at the 2018 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Meeting & Exhibition.
The guest speaker will be Major General Brian Cummings, program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems.
Allison, a global leader in propulsion solutions with more than 100 applications in tracked and wheeled military vehicles, also will provide a glimpse at future propulsion concepts under development.
Among the highlights over the past century, Allison and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineer Center (TARDEC) delivered the best cross-drive transmission in the Army’s history of tracked vehicles – the X1100, for the M1 Abrams main battle tank.
“At Allison, providing quality and innovative solutions to the U.S. Military is much more than business – it’s personal,” said Dana Pittard, Major General (Ret.) and vice president for defense programs at Allison. “It’s personal to our workforce, many of whom are veterans, or proud of family members who serve. All of them consider providing quality products to our nation’s military a privilege and a weighty responsibility.”
Pittard said Allison is particularly honored to welcome Mrs. Pence, who has been a strong supporter of and advocate for military families. Last month, Pence travelled to Fort Carson, in Colorado, as part of a campaign to elevate, encourage and thank our nation’s military spouses. She also has helped distribute comfort kits to children of deployed parents, which include an animated DVD to let kids know they’re not alone and to help them express their feelings.
“More importantly, Second Lady Pence is the mother of a son who has just completed Marine Aviator qualification, and is serving our great country as a Marine officer,” added Pittard.
James Allison’s engineering company had been in business for less than two years when, in April 1917, it halted production of automobile parts to begin engineering and tooling Liberty aircraft engines for World War I. It was the inception of a century of continuous support to the Army, which in World War II used Allison’s V1710 engine to propel some of the most legendary fighter aircraft. After the war, Allison expanded into another form of propulsion – fully automatic transmissions, first for tanks and other tacked vehicles.
Today, nearly all medium- and heavy-tactical combat support wheeled trucks for the U.S. military are equipped with Allison Automatics. These include the Stryker Family of Vehicles, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck and the Heavy Equipment Transporter.
