Even though Red River is government-owned and government-operated, it wants to establish more joint ventures with industry because Army programs stand to benefit from the infusion of commercial technology and from competitive pricing, said Lewis.

Underlying the push for public-partner partnering, however, is the increasing convergence between requirements for military and commercial trucks.

Commercial truck makers today are seeking more rugged vehicles because the U.S. highways are deteriorating, said Henry Hodges Jr. , president of the Nevada Automotive Test Center (NATC) in Carson City, Nev. These truck producers also are seeking to expand sales in the Third World, where highways may not exist. That demands a new approach to building commercial trucks, Hodges told the conference in Monterey.

"The continued deterioration of the infrastructure of the United States means there will be an opportunity to leverage commercial solutions directly for military applications," said Hodges. "Now, commercial manufacturers have to deal with many of the same problems that we have to deal with in the military.

The global economy also drives truck designs, he added. "Commercial manufacturers, more and more, target Third World applications ... The truck design will be more robust to meet global needs."

The commercial trucking industry today is "booming," said James Hebe, president and chief executive officer of Freightliner Corporation. In 1999, the company sold more than 200,000 heavy trucks in the United States. That was a 60 percent increase over 1998 sales and gives the company a 38 percent share of the heavy truck market, Hebe told the conference.

Freightliner, based in Portland, Ore., also makes a variety of military heavy trucks such as M915s and palletized loading systems.

There's the New Normal.