Military powertrain work started for us in 1976 with twin-turbo marine engines for the Navy, then grew into diesel programs for the Humvee and beyond. The real problem showed up in Afghanistan, where the Humvee’s old diesel platform had to operate at roughly 14,000 feet on brutal roads. At that altitude, power loss is not just an inconvenience—it can put people at risk. We used Pikes Peak to sort out high-altitude turbocharging and turbo control, then carried that experience into the vehicle that replaces the Humvee: the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. That program was won by outperforming the competition in performance and reliability, which is the point of the whole exercise—make the vehicle hit harder, survive longer, and keep moving where the old platform ran out of breath.
This installment of the Banks tour focuses on the company's long military-engineering history. Gale Banks explains that Banks has been "hot rodding the military" since 1976, beginning with the U.S. Navy. The early work centered on big-block twin-turbo marine engines designed to run on 84-octane battle gas. That initial program led to continuing military demand, with one project leading to the next as the need for more power and better performance kept expanding.
A major part of that work involved the 6.2/6.5 diesel family, the aging turbo-diesel platform that powers the Humvee. Gale describes it as very old technology built around an extremely old engine design. Roughly 400,000 Humvees are in service worldwide, with about 200,000 of them in domestic use. The United States owns them, and so do allied nations. Despite the vehicle's widespread use, its powertrain became a serious limitation when military operations moved into Afghanistan's high-altitude terrain.
The Afghanistan mission exposed a specific operational problem: troops needed enough power to move safely at elevations around 14,000 feet. The roads were so poor that vehicles often had to be flown in rather than driven into theater. Banks was asked to provide the power needed to keep those vehicles effective in extreme altitude conditions where reduced air density severely hurts engine output. Gale frames the challenge bluntly: the goal was to make sure soldiers had enough power so they would not get killed at 14,000 feet.
To solve that problem, Banks used Pikes Peak as a development environment for Humvee high-altitude turbocharging. Gale describes working out turbo control strategy at extreme elevation using a Pikes Peak open-wheel Chevrolet race vehicle: a black, twin-turbo, 448-cubic-inch combination running on ethanol. That program became a practical way to understand and calibrate turbo behavior in very thin air. The result was a high-altitude control approach that delivered the punch needed for military use, translating race-development lessons into battlefield engine performance.
Today, Banks is the sole engine supplier for the vehicle replacing the Humvee: the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV. Gale refers to it as the "jolt," a nickname based on what it does to the enemy. He emphasizes that the platform offers the best crew protection in its class and is also the hardest-hitting vehicle in that category, referring to its armament. He does not go deeply into weapons details during this segment, but he makes clear that the vehicle represents a major leap beyond the Humvee in survivability and combat capability.
Banks had completed nearly 1,000 engines at the time of the tour. The stated contract volume was 19,700 engines, with an additional 3,500 added by the Marines. Gale also notes a total desired fleet of 58,000 vehicles. Even with the JLTV entering service, the Humvee would not disappear entirely. Instead, older Humvees would remain in less demanding support roles, which he characterizes as "grocery-getters," while the JLTV would take over as the true war-fighting platform.
The tour then broadens to show how Banks' military work connects to its commercial engine programs. Gale points out that the shop also handles Ford V10 motorhome applications and Cummins-powered motorhomes, work Banks has done since the fuel crisis of 1973. He references the company's long-running PowerPack product line and its later move into diesel performance. One example shown is the Duramax. Gale says he has been an engine customer of GM since 1969, buying engines directly from the plants without involving other GM divisions or dealers in that market path. GM approached Banks around 2003 to work on the Duramax, and although it took time to find the right customer, the military Humvee-replacement effort created strong interest. That Duramax-based work became the foundation for the military engines being built in the back of the facility.
Another engine highlighted on the tour is a small V6 diesel from VM Motori, later associated with Fiat and eventually available as the EcoDiesel in Ram pickups. Gale says Banks had already been selling and installing that engine in military vehicles three years before it became available in a pickup truck. He also mentions Boeing's Badger vehicle as one application using that powertrain. The point is that Banks was adapting and deploying advanced diesel packages for military use well before some of those same engines reached mainstream consumer platforms.
Gale then shows visuals comparing the JLTV with the Humvee. The replacement vehicle is substantially larger, much faster, and equipped with 20 inches of wheel travel. He describes it as essentially a military trophy truck. Testing that kind of vehicle required more than conventional proving-ground work, so Banks ran the Baja 1000. The competition for the Humvee replacement came down to several major companies, including Oshkosh Truck, Lockheed Martin, and AM General. According to Gale, Banks and its team won the business by outperforming the second-place competitor in both performance and reliability. He says the Pentagon's numbers showed the winning vehicle to be literally five times better in reliability. He further characterizes it as 70 percent faster and infinitely safer than anything that came before.
The JLTV's protection strategy is built around an armored crew capsule, with multiple vehicle embodiments based on mission needs. Gale highlights a newer version fitted with a 30 mm chain gun. In that configuration, the gunner is no longer exposed above the vehicle, eliminating the traditional vulnerability that made the gunner an easy target for snipers. Instead, the operator remains under armor inside the vehicle and controls the weapon remotely, which Gale compares to gaming. That arrangement captures the broader theme of the program: combining mobility, firepower, and survivability in a way the Humvee never could.